Of All the People
by teal-lover
Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it. Finished as of 1.23.06
1. Of All the People1

Of All the People…

By Teal Lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Disclaimer: Me dont own...just borrowing...get no money from this...you get the picture...

Rated: K+

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_Of all the people to betray me_, the words echoed in his mind. He never thought he would utter those words aloud to his own brother. Oh, he knew that the boy disagreed with many—or should he say—most of the things he had done in his quest for power. But he had never once imagined that Chris would oppose him so completely. And he had never seen it coming. 

From the start of his reign, Wyatt Halliwell had never trusted anyone save his little brother. Not even his right hand man, who he left the day-to-day menial tasks of ruling to. No, the only one ever in his confidence was the one born into it.

Ever since they were little, Wyatt had kept mainly to himself. Hiding in obscurity and the ever present feeling that he was different. But even in infancy, Chris had always seemed to sense this, drawing him out of his shell. Even though younger, he was always the only person that he could confide in. The only person who ever understood him. Or so he thought.

So it came as a total surprise to the Twice-Blessed-Witch when his famed Book of Shadows disappeared that night. It had been literally robbed from his hands as he thumbed through its crackling pages.

With the brotherly bond that they had always shared, he knew exactly _to where _it had gone. Or more precisely, _to whom_. It was the first indication that things had begun to fall apart. He stood there staring at his empty hands, numb and incapable of moving. If his second-in-command hadn't been present when it happened and ordered demons to the manor, he would have never caught on to his little brother's plot against him. _Or his fiance's, _he thought with a grimace.

She must have poisoned his mind against him. What other possible reason for this betrayal of family could there be? He almost laughed at her fate. If she only knew him as well as her fiancé did, she would never have risked her life for something so foolish. He had never intended to kill his younger brother. While it was true that he fully intended to release the energy ball at him, it was certainly nothing that would have killed him. Shock some sense into him, perhaps, but kill him? Never. Apparently, the feeling was mutual.

With all of the powers that existed in the two Halliwell brothers, either one of them could have destroyed the other ages ago. Even upon Bianca's accidental death, Chris's anger with him was enough to give him a burst of power, but not enough to make him want to kill his older brother. Wyatt had grown up with the young man and had witnessed the immense power that he wielded, and often withheld.

Despite being Twice-Blessed, had he wanted to, Chris could have killed the elder witch with a simple flick of his wrist. Yet he hadn't. Nor did he go back and seek retribution on his barely one year old self. The fact that he stood here now gazing out of the window pensively, was proof of that.

Anyone who knew him might have thought him to be brooding, but then, there were none around who knew him, were there?

At least, none recently. Admittedly, he himself despised seeing the city in ruins as it was now. But it was a necessary evil in firmly cementing his seat of power. His worthiness of being ruler. The destruction of a place that he had once held so dearly, showed the world that as a rule, he had no tolerance for disobedience. That there was no middle ground. Compliance was the only viable option for continued existence.

But there was still one who knew the truth. Who knew that particular rule was one that was flexible, if only for him. But if truth be told, he would always have a weakness. A weakness named Christopher Halliwell.

The younger boy had tried his patience on every occasion they had to meet over the last several years, and he would like nothing better than to get him back. If only to prove to the boy that he did indeed have dominion over everything and everyone. He didn't need him otherwise. Right?

He had already sent Bianca, and what a failure that had been. He couldn't go himself without risking his seat of power. And sending one of his minions was most definitely out of the question. Their hatred of the boy and what he represented guaranteed that he would not survive the trip home. He was after all, the only chink in their leader's otherwise impenetrable armor.

He wondered for the first time whether it was time to let it all go, and just let Christopher do as he pleased in the past. He laughed sardonically to himself, and '_Fix him' _as if he were a toy to be glued back together after rough play.

But that would mean the end for him as he was. Was he really ready for that?

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Wyatt Halliwell stood up with a destination in mind. He straightened his clothes, murmuring out loud. "I suppose it's time to find out."

TBC—you decide…


	2. Of All the People2

**HUGE APPOLOGIES TO ****Nathy1000000**--I swear hun, I wouldnt have left you out on purpose, but it didn't show up on my screen. Sometimes it skips over reviews & I had to go back & check my email to actually see what you had written. down on knees begging my humblest appologies...I'm glad you like the way I write the evil with some feelings. It's so much fun that way:)

Of All the People…

Chapter 2

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: Thank you all so much for the reviews. You guys decided to see more, so I decided to show you:) Hope you like it.

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Wyatt Halliwell headed straight for his bedroom. He threw open the closet looking for something to wear for his upcoming trip, but frowned when he scanned nothing but black. He telekinetically moved through the racks looking for something in particular, which should have been easy to spot.

_Ah, there it is_, he thought rewardingly as he reached for with his hand. The sight of the white patterned, long sleeve shirt made him smirk, recalling the words his brother had said before giving it to him on his birthday two years prior. He had found the dark haired man perusing through his closet and quickly grew suspicious with the package he carried in hand. Chris had turned and frowned at him then. "_Hmm_", he said. "_All black. An evil ruler would own nothing else, eh? Here. For the man who has everything else…" _he grinned with a slight twinkle in his eye as he handed him the gift.

His brother seemed to be under the impression that altering his appearance from the dark and drab ensemble, would somehow make him a convert. _As if the clothes would somehow make the man_, he scoffed.

So why now, was he putting the shirt over his black tee? It was best not to think about it.

He blinked once and conjured a double for himself. One that could cause no harm and make unwise decisions in his absence, but also one that would confirm his continued powerful presence in the event that someone tried to overthrow him. He simply wouldn't accept that possibility from anyone else. He wouldn't even entertain the idea of being dethroned by anyone except for his little brother. And wasn't even quite sure why he was entertaining it right now. This was the only way to prevent anyone from suspecting his departure.

Once that was done, he shimmered to the attic of the Halliwell Museum, orbing having long since been suppressed in his quest for power. Glancing around, he could still see the faint chalk outline of the Triquetra on the wall that he himself had smudged.

Just after the incident, he had allowed the anger to dissipate slightly and found himself staring at the family crest. He had rubbed at it viciously, willing its meaning to be untrue. But the white drawing stubbornly remained, and stood out blaringly to him as symbol of everything he had already, and would soon loose.

No one had been allowed to enter or tour the building since the day that his younger brother escaped to the past. _For the second time_, he thought bitterly. He retraced the outline with the chalk, ensuring he would land where he chose.

He had left the Book of Shadows magically locked in a safe in his room. The one page missing from it, the only spell that he needed, ripped out to prevent anyone from following. But he laughed at the absurdity of his brother's actions. Did he really believe that he wouldn't have a copy? How else did he think that the podium held the digital illusion? Though to be fair, the scanned version was accessible only to the Twice-Blessed Witch.

He ran his hands through the illusion, allowing it to recognize his essence for a moment before he was able to turn the flickering pages. _There it is, _he thought.

Just before entering, he recited another spell to hide both his 'aura' and facial features. He didn't want to be recognized. Not at first. After all, _glamouring was _his family's forte. Or at least, it had been for Aunt Paige who had taught him so many years ago.

He was tempted to go back to the point in time where he knew his brother had landed just after his escape. But he wasn't particularly anxious to be thrown into any walls right now. _No_. He would give him time to grieve over her loss first. _A few months afterward, perhaps_.

With that thought in mind, he recited the spell, awaiting patiently for the glow on the wall that would take him to find the answers he sought.

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A dark-haired man with very handsome features, and rich brown eyes stepped into the Halliwell attic. His clean cut, short hair was cropped just above the collar of his white shirt, which was tucked into his black jeans. He looked around and inhaled the scent of the fresh air fondly. Just as he remembered, before he was forced to turn it into a museum and the cold, stale air had set in.

As he sensed someone approaching, he quickly shimmered out to make his entrance another way. He didn't want to reveal too much, too soon.

Making his way outside, he tried to imagine how he would surprise them. _Especially, him. _He grinned mischievously as an idea formed. Feeling that it was a bit too early to expose magic to the public since it could only make his life more difficult growing up, he glanced around to ensure that no one was watching.

He decided to conjure up a small car and placed it out in front of the manor. One that looked like a delivery vehicle. Topping it off literally, he added a neon sign that said '_magic shop'_ and grinned at the irony. This would definitely get him inside the house.

With a small bag in hand, he strolled up to the front door and rang the bell. "Hello." He greeted the younger version of his mother and held up a list to his face with their names on an invoice. "I'm looking for a 'P. Halliwell?' I have a delivery."

Piper eyed the young man warily, "Well, you're going to have to be a bit more specific."

He stuck his head back to view the numbers on the front of the house, "This is the right address, I believe. I was given a message at the store that a young man--I think he said his name was Chris, said to bring this to," he leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "the Charmed Ones. I'm from the 'M. Shop'" he said as he pointed to his vehicle with a description on it.

The woman practically shrieked while she yanked him inside the door to avoid having the neighbors see him. "Are you crazy coming here like this? What if someone saw you?" she admonished roughly.

The young man defended his actions, "But I was only doing as requested. We don't even normally do house calls, but he said that it was urgent that you get this. And you guys do so much for the magical community, that I just couldn't refuse."

"You! Don't move from that spot." Piper clenched her jaw angrily as she stormed into the kitchen muttering, "That boy is _so _going to get it."

She was already highly annoyed with their young whitelighter after being responsible for a demonic cult kidnapping her son, even though he saved him in the end. Further aggravating the situation, was the fact that it was less than two months ago that they just found out that he was part witch as well. _No wonder he couldn't heal, _she grimaced. And the idea that her sweet little baby boy would grow up to be evil. _Yeah right, _she thought. Still though, she had had just about enough of his lies and manipulation, and she wasn't going to take it anymore.

She yelled up to the ceiling, tapping her foot impatiently awaiting this explanation. "CHRIS! Get down here. NOW!"

Orbing in irritably, he sighed at the look of anger and irritation on Piper's face. He had tried to stay away from the sisters unless absolutely necessary over the past two months. He remembered telling Leo that it was only to give the sisters some time to trust him again. But in actuality, he was hurt. His mother's harsh words informing him that he was not welcome in his own home anymore, or in her life, really stung. While it was true that she didn't know who he was, the words had still hurt. They still resounded in his mind through her voice, with her face. To him, she would always be his mother. And she didn't want him.

He wasn't ready for another fight with her. She had calmed slightly after he saved Wyatt from the demonic cult. So he now tried to recall all of his actions over the past month, but couldn't fathom what he could have done to make her so angry all of a sudden. _What's she pissed about now, he groaned silently. _He didn't have much of a chance to ask her before she grabbed his arm and dragged him into the foyer.

"What were you thinking…" she began ranting furiously. Her voice was washed out as Chris stared at the young man. His features didn't ring any bells, but there was indeed something familiar about the man, he thought curiously.

Chris's eyes raked over the man several times until they finally came to rest on his shirt. _A white patterned shirt. _Something started to click for him. _A white patterned shirt covering a black tee and tucked into black jeans. _A white patterned shirt that he remembered having someone make for one particular person. His eyes grew wide with the realization of who he was really dealing with and he stumbled backwards awkwardly, nearly tripping over the petite woman.

His thoughts of orbing himself momentarily forgotten during his shock, he didn't have time to take but a few steps as the energy ball the man had generated came rushing at him, slamming him into the wall.

Out of breath and still twitching slightly the physical shock and pain, he still managed to wave his hand and orb his mother out to safety, ignoring her angry shouts and attempts to blow up or freeze the intruder.

As the man approached to tower over him, he stared up into the unfamiliar brown eyes with a mixture of confusion, worry, and dread. Chris briefly wondered why he hadn't changed back into his own form yet before his thoughts were interrupted by the man's cold and unemotional voice. "Now you see, this is what I was going to hit you with before I was so rudely interrupted. I think we have a few things to talk about…"

TBC…definitely.

nubia

Thanks for the review and encouragement. Is this soon enough for you:)

JadeAlmasy

Thank you so much! I will continue the story! 

mizunderstood writer

I definitely will—thanks for the support!

shadowhisper

Thank you. I'm so glad that I got you to like Wyatt here. I hope you like his decision.

IcantthinkofaFnick

Yes, thank you. You really don't know how psychic you are do you? That was exactly what I was planning if everyone liked it enough to continue.

Wonder

Thank you for your support. I will definitely continue.

Eloise

Your wish is my command:) Thank you for the review & encouragement.

Alyssa Halliwell

Most definitely! Thank you so much for the support. You've always been so kind to me, and I greatly appreciate it.

Sparkling Cherries

Well, actually—I was working on finishing HDIFM—so no grunts girl! This was only planned to end where it did, but then I left it open just in case. I wasn't really sure if anyone would want to see a Wyatt centered story, so I'm glad you liked it.

Mira

Thank you. Yes, he is—but I guess it's no secret now. I'm glad that you like my Wyatt because I tried to make him human with real emotions. No one knows who he is yet since he has arrived just after prince charmed. But it's definitely about to get interesting.

Stony Angel

Yes, I am. But unlike Wyatt, I was born this way;)

But it's your fault. I only wrote this cause you asked me about the forum, & I decided to post for the contest—but I realized I didn't have anything that I wanted to show:)

Trina-k

Thanks for the review. I hope you like where it's headed.

phoebe-x15

You do, really? Thank you, I'm so flattered. I will update this as soon as possible, but I'm trying to work on finishing HDIFM before I post another—but I've already been bad in even starting this, so it's anybody's game here…

DrewFullerFanLife

Thank you for your encouragement. Well, if you really want me to…..Ok, you talked me into it:) TBC………….

Shoequeeny

Yes, yes, yes. And may I add, yes;)

Thank you so much for reviewing. I'm glad that my Wyatt meets your expectations. I love making him more human in my stories, cause I don't think I'd ever have the heart to make him truly evil. And I had to do Chris some justice—after all, he's the son of a Charmed One and an Elder—so he has to have more than just TK & orbing.

haydock14

Thank you for the support. Well, since you asked so nicely, I will definitely continue;)


	3. Of All the People3

Of All the People…

Chapter 3

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

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Piper looked around in shock, recognizing the stark white surroundings. She quickly recalled how Chris had been hit and she began to worry for the young man's safety.

But her worry soon changed with another thought, _what if this had been a trap? Just to get her out of the house. He did after all, orb her up here. Leaving him alone in the house with her baby._

Frantically, she ran through the hall screaming her ex-husband's name, "LEO!"

Out of a doorway, Leo emerged hearing the familiar voice where he shouldn't have. He lowered the cowl on his Elder robe and met her halfway, "Piper? How did you get up here? What's wrong?"

"Chris," she panted breathlessly, "I think he set me up to get Wyatt alone! We have to get back down there!"

A cold fury washed across Leo's face as he took her hand, "We'll get Phoebe and Paige on the way down. He won't get away with this."

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Chris leaned up against the wall and rubbed his stomach where he had been hit. "That hurt."

"Good!" his brother retorted.

Chris rolled his eyes, "Change back!"

Wyatt had planned to, but simply because his little brother had demanded it of him, he refused. He smirked and dipped his voice an octave lower, "Why should I? I answer to no one. Least of all you."

Chris ground his teeth together and his eyes narrowed, "Because I want to look into the true face of my murderer."

Wyatt threw his hand up dismissively, "Please. If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead."

"The only reason I'm not is because Bianca stopped you! And then you killed her!" Chris yelled before taking a swing at his brother.

He let out a satisfied snicker when his fist landed across Wyatt's face, splitting his lip open in the process. _Oh yeah, that's gonna' leave a mark, _he thought happily.

He went to swing again but was blocked when Wyatt rushed him full force.

Chris grunted when Wyatt body-slammed him into the marble table that stood in the hallway. He felt the table legs start to buckle underneath him, but he was far too angry to care. Using his weight and shifting, he rolled them both onto the floor and landed atop his brother, who in turn grunted painfully. He used his position advantage to land several more punches and screamed in his face, "I HATE YOU!"

As Chris leaned down again, Wyatt's eyes blazed with fury and he took the brief opportunity to shift his little brother off balance. Kneeing Chris in the stomach, he followed through with his hands and threw him over his head.

Both of them rolled to their feet quickly, circling each other predatorily. Up until this point, neither had seemed willing to use their powers on each other, content with just a good old-fashioned fight.

Chris was busy studying any weak points to attack, just as his Aunt Phoebe had taught him so many years ago. He looked up when his brother spoke.

"So, you hate me," he questioned disbelievingly.

"YES!" he sneered back.

Wyatt snorted self confidently, "Then why are you here?"

Chris gritted his teeth angrily, both the question and his brother's attitude infuriating him to no end. _To hell with this_, he thought suddenly. He allowed the anger to build, drawing on the feeling to guide his actions. He had pushed the majority of his offensive powers aside when Wyatt turned, for fear of becoming like him, keeping only what he thought was necessary for survival. But at the moment, he didn't care about possibilities or consequences. Right now, he only wanted to wipe the smugness off the Twice-Blessed Witch's face.

The younger man let loose a power that had been unique to him in the history of witches due to his whitelighter lineage. He could spew electricity from his finger tips like his father, but his witch powers, enhanced by his mother's freezing capabilities, transformed the streaks of lighting into short solid objects, effectively creating electric spikes.

Less than two feet away, he was guaranteed not to miss.

He flicked his wrist, sending the spikes barreling toward his older brother.

The elder of the two saw this and powered up an energy ball, releasing it at the same time.

Wyatt was thrown backward into the solarium, the electric spikes burning straight through his shoulder and left leg before imbedding themselves into the wall behind him.

Chris was propelled backward by the medium voltage ball crashing into his stomach and he flew into a glass cabinet, shattering it on impact.

Both men got up again a little unsteady, bruised and bloody. Wyatt limped with the damage from the spikes in his shoulder and leg, while Chris hunched over from the slight burn on his torso and the shards of glass littering his back.

Wyatt taunted at the use of something his brother had sworn off using nearly adecade ago. "Using powers you swore you would never use again, Chris? I feel _so _special."

"Not nearly special enough." Chris retorted before firing off another round, grimacing as Wyatt easily dodged them this time. "You turned the only woman I ever loved against me, and then you murdered her, you bastard!"

"Then you should have told her to stay out of it!" Wyatt fired back.

"Well maybe I would have if you hadn't been choking me to death at the time!"

"Like I said before, if I had chosen to kill you, we would not be standing here right now. _YOU _would not be standing. Period." the older man hissed back.

Chris laughed and taunted him just as his brother had done earlier, "Then why _are we _standing here? Why did you come back? Were you just sitting back there stewing? Mad as hell because I outsmarted you? _TWICE_."

His jaw muscles twitched before he answered. "It doesn't take a genius to stab someone in the back."

"If you call risking my life to come back here and save you from yourself _'stabbing you in the back', _then yes, I guess I did. Though I'm starting to wonder why, cause you're not worth it."

Wyatt tried not to let his brother's words affect him, but somehow, they slipped through his stony façade. His thoughts bubbled to the surface in a fit of rage and he ranted angrily, "You are such an ungrateful little ass. After everything I've done for you. _This _is how you repay me? By betraying me? Your own flesh and blood for some no good tramp—who by the way was so easy to get to turn on you. _I am the only person alive _who has cared for you, sheltered you, protected you—raised you! I built an empire. Not just for me, but for us! I've allowed no one else but you to rule it by my side. And you throw it all back in my face!"

Shaking his head at the tirade, Chris answered heatedly, "Well I don't need or want anything you have to offer. I don't want to be like my big brother, Wy. You've become a tyrant. A power hungry dictator that builds his empire on the bloody backs of people he considers insignificant. And yes, I admit it--for five years—you raised me, took care of me when there was no one else left. That's one of the only reason's I came here."

Wyatt was furious. How dare his little brother judge him? And justify his traitorous actions with his so-called good intentions. "To screw up the past in order to change me? Accept it! _It's. Who. I. Am. _I was born to power—to be king. You have _no right _to interfere with my destiny!"

Chris spoke with conviction, finally letting out all he had ever wanted to say to his older brother in the past several years. He had never imagined ever getting the chance to speak his mind. Before he had left for the past, his brother had trusted him completely, not having even the slightest inkling of what he had been planning. And so he had never confronted him. But now, he saw no reason to hold back.

"This is _not _your destiny. You weren't like this before. You think I'm so screwed up because I happen to think it's wrong to terrorize people who refuse to follow you? But how quickly you forget. You're the one who taught me right from wrong in the first place after I had no one else to teach me! And I learned a lot from you before you turned. This person you are now—is not my brother. Him, I loved. But I hate this iron-fist, power-hungry dictator that killed him."

Wyatt clenched his jaw at his younger brother's impassioned explanation. _He really seemed to believe what he was saying,_ he fumed silently. But the older of the two had had enough and decided to test it. He frowned at him in disgust. "I didn't teach you to turn your back on family. So _traitor_, if you hate me so much—so be it." He turned and waved his hand toward the ceiling, materializing his baby self in Chris's arms.

Chris stared in shock at the younger version of his brother openly, then to his hand that the older version had seemingly conjured into it.

Wyatt goaded him, "Go ahead! Kill him. Get rid of all your problems right here, right now—the monster you hate so much. Before he becomes a menace to society." He waved his hand, directing Chris's arm with the athame toward the unsuspecting child. "DO IT!" he yelled. "He trusts you! Stab him right in the back! After all, it is the only thing you're good at!"

Chris's lip quivered as he glanced at the athame in his hands. As angry as he was, he couldn't bring himself to end his brother's life—in any stage.

He stared at the glistening knife. It would be so easy, and the world would be safe. If the resistance knew he was standing here, so close to putting an end to their woes and still refusing to do it, they would probably kill him on the spot. But he just couldn't do it. He wouldn't do it. Not when they had asked him before he had left for the past. And not now while his brother was encouraging him to take his own life. He struggled against the force of the telekinetic push towards his brother's baby self.

He glared at the mop of curly blond hair and imagined the smirk he knew the older version was currently wearing. He wanted to be as angry with the little one as he was with the big one as he set him down with one arm, the knife in the other.

As soon as the tiny feet touched the floor, Chris only vaguely heard his aunt's voice somewhere behind him call for the sharp object. He and Wyatt had both been too distracted fighting with each other to notice their sudden presence.

All they could see was him towering over the child, athame in hand—as if prepared to plunge it into the toddler's body. Instead, when the knife imbedded itself deep in his own chest—far too close to his heart—he knew that they had come in much too late in their debate to understand the truth. As he felt his life slipping away, he surmised that now they never would.

Before his brother hit the floor, Wyatt yelled and flung out his arm angrily, sending Paige skidding into the living room on her back.

While Phoebe rushed over to grab the baby, Piper and Leo threw everything they had at the intruder.

But Wyatt now had the advantage. He quickly raised his shield, bowling them over and sending them scattered back out of the room, his baby self in tow.

With the shield intact, he rushed over to his fallen brother, hoping it wasn't already too late. "Chris? Please…Not like this."

Chris tried to laugh seeing the water cascading down Wyatt's face, but ended up choking on the blood in his throat instead. "She beat you to it, huh?" he joked.

With one of them hovering over death's doorstep, their differences seemed to have been quickly forgotten, and their sibling bond the only thing that remained strong.

Panicking for the first time in years, Wyatt unsteadily held his hands over his brother's wound hoping desperately for the golden yellow glow. He had been angry with his little brother. Infuriated even. Down right livid! But he had never wanted him to die. Not once. And certainly not by the hands of his own family.

Rapidly loosing his strength, Chris pushed his hand away gently and reminded him. "You can't heal, Wy. You gave that up a long time ago."

Realizing the truth in his words, Wyatt's head quickly shot to his father hopefully. "Heal him," he demanded.

Piper scoffed heatedly, "You must be kidding. He tried to murder my son!"

Leo agreed with her and hung back, glowering at the two men in the shield. "I'll tell you what--lower the shield, and I'll make his death quick and painless."

"Forget it. I was living on borrowed time anyway," Chris murmured to his brother as he tried to nod his head in Leo's direction. Wyatt turned around again, looking his father up and down. Ignoring the seething look of hatred in his eyes, he spotted what Chris was referring to. He was wearing Elder robes. _No_, he thought with distress. In their timeline, as soon as Leo had become an Elder, their parents had divorced and saw very little of each other. On closer inspection, he saw no wedding rings on either of their hands. And it was too soon for his brother to have been conceived. He began to panic even further as he questioned his brother, "You made him an Elder?" At the slight nod, "Chris, it was too soon. Why?"

"For you. To _save _you."

"Why do you always have to do such stupid things?" Wyatt admonished.

He smiled slightly, but the twinkle in his sage-green eyes had all but vanished as the life slowly ebbed out of him. "Runs in the family, I guess. Change back," Chris begged him. "Please. I don't want to die with a stranger."

This time, not caring about the petty defiance, Wyatt immediately removed the glamour, shocking everyone in the room with his appearance.

The bright blue eyes; sandy blonde hair; all of his features eerily reminiscent of the small boy that Phoebe held in her arms...

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews. I'll try to respond personally in the next chapter—I have somewhere I'm supposed to be right now, but I wanted to get this posted for you in the mean time :D


	4. Of All the People4

Of All the People

Chapter 4

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

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Everyone stood in stunned silence, while Phoebe shook her head slowly, the first to comment on the similarities. She held up the small boy in her arms and kept darting her eyes between his small face, and the older man hovering over their soon-to-be ex-whitelighter. "No. It can't be…"

"Why not?" the man inside the force field took offence and asked her shortly. He was about to comment on the absurdity of the statement, especially in light of their knowledge that Chris was from the future. Even though they apparently weren't aware of his identity. _He's getting very good at lying it seems…_he grimaced inwardly.

He tore his eyes away from his family and watched his brother valiantly struggling to hold on. He allowed himself to be pulled down as the younger of the two tugged on his shirt to tell him something in his ear. _It must have been important_, he thought for him to be so insistent in what may be his final moments.

When the blonde grew close enough, Chris couldn't help himself and had to get, if possible, one last friendly dig at his sibling. "She can't believe such a cute baby could grow up so ugly."

Wyatt allowed a small smile at his brother's wry sense of humor before he told him firmly, "This is not the time for jokes, Christopher."

The younger man's response this time was slower, weaker. "Won't get 'nother."

Wyatt's face fell, knowing full well that this could be his brother's last few moments if he didn't get them to help him. If he lowered the force field too soon, his parent's itchy trigger fingers would surely finish off his baby brother before he had a chance to defend him. And he certainly couldn't do them any harm if there was ever going to be a possibility of getting them back together to conceive the younger witch. _No. _Reasoning with them would be the only way to ensure his survival. _At least for the moment._

Gently, he laid Christopher down on the floor and stepped as close to them as the force field would permit, allowing his family to study his features. "We don't have time for this," he commented impatiently. "What is it going to take to prove to you who I am?" he asked his mother and father and indicated the barrier, "As if this handy little shield weren't enough. How about the fact that I look just like your father at this age, Dad. Perhaps I should conjure you a dragon? Or--" He suddenly looked up toward the ceiling, sensing for something he hadn't thought he needed to bring with him. Holding out his hand, he called for the familiar sword currently encased in the stone in the attic. "Excalibur!"

From his vantage point inside the force field, Wyatt glared at his family before offering a wicked grin, "Only the true heir to the throne may summon it."

He stood before his father, hoping to intimidate the shorter man with his full height and powerful presence. Had it not been for the magical barrier separating the two, his tactic may very well have worked as his father found himself being towered over by his eldest son. Instead, he spoke in the most impressive and dangerous voice he knew of that made everyone near obey immediately. "You feel the power radiating off of it; _off of me_. You know it to be true. A little fact that I'm sure you didn't let mom in on—you as an Elder are relegated to my service. And as rightful successor to King Arthur, I command you to heal him!" he said, pointing to the man on the floor.

Leo looked shaken, his face draining of all color when he finally realized who the blonde man was. All of the proof added up in his mind. The familiar force field, which had just knocked them all down just as his baby self had done a month ago. He was the spitting image of his long dead father, with even a hint of Piper's features if you looked closer. But it was Excalibur and the knowledge surrounding it that cinched it for him. He shook his head slightly, trying out the name hesitantly. "No. Wyatt. Technically, you're still a baby in this time, and I have to do what's best for you. He tried to kill you. He's evil."

"HE IS NOT EVIL! That is a concept that doesn't exist!" Wyatt fired back, startling his family back a few steps.

Having second thoughts about her actions, Paige started to shake as she placed her fingers to her mouth. She pointed out to the others, "He didn't burn up or explode when I—"

The Elder was unconvinced and said as much, "That doesn't mean anything, Paige. We already know he's not a demon, and that he's part witch/part whitelighter. It doesn't change his intentions. He was going to murder my son. We saw it with our own eyes."

"Did we?" Piper asked, her heart raced as she began to doubt their stance. "What if we were wrong?" She turned and directed her husband, "Leo, if we were wrong, and we let him die—then we'll have killed an innocent--intentionally." She looked into her adult son's eyes and saw the look of desperation in them despite the callous mask he tried to portray. Their had to be something good within their young whitelighter for him to care so much for him. If only for the moment, she was willing to find out what it was. "Leo, please? I swear, if he tries anything with Wyatt, I'll kill him myself—but we have to be sure."

"No," the Elder outright refused again.

"HE DOESN'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" Wyatt shouted as he rushed over to him, hearing his brother's ragged breathing worsen with each passing second. The older witch panicked as he gathered him in his lap, pressing his hand to the wound to try and stop the blood from spilling any further. None of the tactics familiar to him in all of his rule were helping him right now. His eyes watered for the first time in years as his head shot up pleading with the man. "Dad?"

Leo turned away from the grizzly sight on the floor. The thickening pool of blood covering much of the floor from the dying witch nearly broke his resolve. The pacifist nature in him wanted to help the dark-haired man, to stop his suffering, but the father in him responsible for his family's lives demanded otherwise. He steeled his gaze and focused on the older man in the hopes that he would someday understand his decision. He began to wonder as to the relationship between the two that could spur such a deadly combination of obvious love and hate. His older son did seem awfully _fond _of the young witch/whitelighter. _Well_, he flushed with embarrassment. _Times were changing_.

He pushed his curious thoughts aside and did his best to answer in a fatherly '_I love you and I'll do what's best for you even if you don't like it' _tone. "I'm sorry Wyatt. I'm sorry that you seem to care for him for whatever reason and have forgiven him for what he did. But I can't. He has done so much in the past few months to make us seriously doubt his loyalty to this family. He's a danger to us all, and I won't continue to abide by that. You're my responsibility at any age, and I can't allow him to live knowing that doing so would carry the risk of him accomplishing his sick and twisted goals. Whitelighter or not, he tried to kill my son."

His nostrils flared heatedly with his father's ridiculous speech. _How dare he disobey me? _He thought pompously. At least now he knew where his misguided little brother got his self-righteous behavior from. Wyatt yelled as loudly as he could, hoping they would finally be the words that would spur his father into action. "HE IS YOUR SON!"

Leo stumbled backward, the words slamming into him heavily. He barely heard the gasping and strangled sobs from the sisters. Instead, the Elder only heard the words _'…YOUR SON…' _resounding in his head like a jackhammer as he began to hyperventilate. That was simply one possible relationship he hadn't thought of…

The Twice-Blessed Witch had never felt so out of control in his entire life as he did now that Chris had closed his eyes quietly. With all of the immense power he now possessed, he had given up the one power that would solve this problem in exchange for some of his more demonic abilities. And for the first time, he wished he hadn't. He held on tighter, as if doing so would stop the inevitable. He cradled his little brother in his arms, his heart sinking dismally as he felt the body slacken within them.

He looked up to the sound of orbing near his head, only to look into his own eyes hopefully.

Not quite able to stand on his own yet, the toddler plopped down next to them, his tiny little fingers stretching but unable to reach the wound. Wyatt cursed himself again for not thinking of the solution earlier as he reached over to pick up the child, holding him over his brother. While he may not have been able to heal any longer, the child version of himself still possessed the ability and would for several more years to come. He let out an overwhelming sigh of relief as the golden glow finally came, but it was still not over. The younger man had yet to take a breath and he wondered if he had been too late.

For several long minutes, the atmosphere was strained while everyone anxiously awaited the results of the healing process.

Phoebe rubbed her younger sister's back, trying to console the woman whose only intentions had been to save her family, but now cried uncontrollably with guilt.

Piper hovered near the edges of the force field, the silent tears streaming down her face as she clasped her hands together and prayed that she would not loose him before she even got the chance to know him. If he was family, then that would explain so many of his more questionable actions. It would also explain the wounded expressions that flitted across his face after she or her husband again said something harsh to him. Unable to stop herself despite the general lack of interest her oldest son showed her, she asked him wistfully, "_He's really my son_?"

"You need only to look in the mirror to answer that question," Wyatt answered bluntly, turning his head away from her to avoid further questioning. His only concern was his younger brother, finally beginning to stir in his arms.

Chris opened his eyes, his vision still a bit clouded. He glanced around the room, trying to place his surroundings and recall how he ended up in his brother's arms. He thought about orbing away, but with him being so physically close to the elder witch, he knew he wouldn't get far. He wrinkled his brow in confusion. _And why were they all looking at him with such desperation and longing_. "What happened?" he questioned to no one in particular as his eyes danced around the room.

Even as he asked the question, all of the recent events came flooding back to him and he lowered his head disappointedly. "Oh."

He leaned back in exhaustion before staring deeply into those familiar bright blue eyes. He watched them flit from relief, to anger, to disappointment, to—he wasn't quite sure what the hell that was. Chris gave him his best innocent look, "Hey Wy. Would it help if I said I was sorry?"

"Just because you almost died, doesn't mean you're getting off the hook that easily," the older man answered him with a wry grin just before placing his hand on his chest and shimmering them both out.

TBC…

AN: MY REVIEW THANKS! While I still have a little bit of time before summer classes, I thought I would take the time to say thank you all personally for the wonderful reviews, and answer certain things that may have popped into your minds. You have no idea how much they mean to me & make me keep writing—and trying to do it better and better. and to update more frequently—hint hint:)

Alyssa Halliwell

you liked the shirt huh? I'm glad, cause I thought it would be kind of funny. Thank you so much for all of your support—I am so unbelievably grateful for your encouragement in all my stories. And I'm glad you liked ch. 3 on this one too—I only hope this one is just as good for you;)

Cassi

Thanks for the enthusiastic review. I hope this chapter answered your questions.

Cat Yuy

Thank you. And PSS. I didn't:) Shhh. Don't tell anyone…

Ceres217

Thanks for reviewing—and I hope your happy that Chris is alive now;)

charmedtomeetyou

Thank you. We will see Piper's reaction more in the next chapter. And the rest of the family too.

chattypandagurl

Wow, you flatter me. I'm blushing here…so thank you. I hope this update answered some of your questions.

cherrygirl1987

Thanks! I've updated now—what do you think--huh huh huh?

DrewFullerFanLife

Thanks for the compliment. Now there's more. So what next? I hope you like it…:)

ennui deMorte

I'm soooo sorry I made you cry—but it is kind of wrong of me to be glad at the same time:) I hate the way they treat Chris on the show as if he were just a nuisance--& maybe even adopted since they pretend like he doesn't have half the powers he should have. So I tried to do him some justice & be creative with his powers. Glad you liked it. Seriously, you must be psychic—because I wrote this on the 29th but couldn't update since the server went down. Then I decided to wait to post until I could thank you guys.

Fire Gazer

Short, but always so sweet—thank you so much for all of your supportive reviews!

IcantthinkofaFnick

They sure do think alike—cause we sure do. Maybe that's why we like the same kind of fics—all about yummy chris:) And the reviews—girl are you kidding me—I'm not even going to try and insult someone by trying to type in these names…I'd be guaranteed to screw someone's up. I'm so glad you like the story. I hope you'll continue to like it:)

JadeAlmasy

Thank you! I'm so happy you like the story---and you think my work is good? Wow, that makes me giggle like an idiot.

lemonade101

Are you kidding me? How could I not? It's so much more fun this way—I'm a whole lot more evil than Wyatt by the way. I just don't have any powers:) Thank you so much for reviewing.

Little Wing

Thanks! I decided to try something a bit different on this one & get more emotional than just the dialog. I wanted to give Wyatt a real personality, 'cause the cold-evil Wyatt and the super-sweet-as-sugar wyatt weren't doing it for me either. And I had wondered about those spells myself. The show kind of dropped the ball on that one—what a waste of an excellent storyline. Oh well, more fun for me…

Martina G

Yeah, I guess I am kind of evil, aint I? But really, I don't know how to end it any other way:) But if it makes you feel any better—I'm sorry I made you cry:) Thanks so much for reviewing.

MerlinHalliwell

Thank you! I hope this answered your questions…or did it pose more?

Mira

I'll try to update again soon. I'm kind of working on 3 stories right now & trying to be fair to all of them. The funny part is, I tried to post this on the 29th, but the server went down & then I decided to just wait. Blame it on FF.

Moonash90

Thank you so much for the great review. I hope you like this chapter too:)

Nathy1000000

Aw, thanks dear. Chris & Wy are a complicated pair—and I love writing their relationship. In fact, that's pretty much the only thing I like writing about, so I'm so happy that you like it.

Night-Owl123

Thank you! Aw, don't worry—even if I let him die—I would always find a way to bring him back. I kind of like this Wyatt too. A little more depth than on the show. They sure didn't do him justice.

Nikki14u

Really? You like it that much? I'm flattered—especially since I love your writing. Your review had me laughing. But hey girl—turn about is fair play:)

orcasnowleo

Thank you! And since you asked so nicely—here you go. OOOH, another teal lover—isn't it just the best color ever to exist? I've been hooked on it for about 10 years now & have shown no signs of changing. I even insisted that my first new car be of all things—a teal sebring! Yeah, I'm s till lovin' it. I'm glad that I'm not alone:)

phoebe turner

I'm so glad that you like my story. You've been so wonderful & kind to me in your reviews—thank you so much.

phoebe-x15

Glad you liked it. What can I say—Piper is like a lioness protecting her cubs. Too bad she didn't know she was protecting him from her other cub. But trust me, she'll have a lot to account for. And see—no worries, I didn't kill him yet. I mean at all… wink

ritagarcia45

Wow, I'm so happy you're reading this even though you're not completely into the season. Thanks so much for reviewing.

shadowhisper

Well I'm glad that you're hooked—cause I want to go fishing so more:) I hope that you liked this chapter & the ones to come too. But be warned, his decision is not complete yet:)

Shoequeeny

Wow, thanks so much for the glowing review. Don't worry, I won't keep you in suspense for too long since it's meant to be a fairly short story. Mainly about their angst & thoughts, etc. With a nice little bit of death & destruction thrown in for good measure…:)

Sparkling Cherries

Ok—hold out your hand, open wide, cause I'm going to give you a big surprise…That's my problem isn't it. Always a surprise. I was even born weeks early because I wanted to surprise my family before my due date. Sorry, guess I just never got over it.

But in my defense, I told you before, I tried the Cliffhangers Anonymous meetings, but then they asked me to stand up & introduce myself. I did, but then when I got to the really good parts, I stopped, so they threw me out:) Thanks for the sweet reviews.

Stony Angel

Really, dear—I definitely owe this story to you for pushing me. So thank you so much, and the reviews you leave are so encouraging. Funny thing is, the story doesn't fit the criteria of the contest so I wont post it there. But—I'm finishing the one I left unfinished….Should be done in the next couple of days….Interested? Oh, and I can totally believe it. We always seem to be on the same wave length. Cool, huh:)

Teri

You know, I've been accused of both, so take your pick:) But I can't help myself—it's an addition. I'm blushing over your review—so nice, thank you. You really like the others too?

Tigerdrake

Really? You love it? Thank you for taking the time to tell me:)

trina-k

Because it's so much fun! Some people have hobbies like fishing, golfing, baseball, movies—mine is killing Chris. He's like my version of Kenny from South Park:) I'm really glad you're enjoying the story and my evil but not so evil Wyatt. Thanks so much for taking the time to review.

Wwolf

I'm glad you like him. I have to confess, I like veryveryevil Wyatt sometimes, but I just don't have the heart to write it myself. But I think he deserves some depth! And Chris deserves some powers;) Thank you so much for you're wonderful reviews.


	5. Of All the People5

Of All the People

Chapter 5

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews. Since I'm getting short on time, I'm going to try and personally respond every other chapter. I wasn't going to take summer classes—but then my advisor said I had to take one, so timing will be tight. But I'll try to get the story finished soon:)

I'll get back to the family next chapter. I simply couldn't leave you hanging with Wyatt & Chris for too long:)

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No sooner had the two young men shimmered into the storage room of P3, Chris rolled away from his older brother and quickly stood up.

The older of the two snorted angrily, "So your sorry? For coming back here to ruin my life?"

Chris shrugged as he answered candidly, no longer seeing the point in trying to hide anything from the elder witch. "Not really. I just asked if it would help if _I said it_. Honestly, I don't have anything to apologize to you for, being that I'm doing this for you and all."

As Wyatt narrowed his eyes and took a step closer, Chris held out his hand, warning him to keep his distance. He halted for the moment but crossed his arms and answered snidely. "You can't seriously think I'm a threat to you. I just saved your life."

Chris looked frustrated as he explained to him evenly. "No. _Good Wyatt _just saved my life. He's still innocent and hasn't been corrupted by evil yet."

A brief look of hurt flashed in his blue eyes, but he replied calmly. "I tried."

Admitting reluctantly, Chris tilted his head slightly and sighed. "I know you did. Thank you for that, Wyatt. But it doesn't change anything, except to prove that there is good in you. That I still have a reason to keep fighting to save you. Blame yourself and this little impulsive trip of yours, because now I'm more convinced than ever that it can be done. That it's worth it."

"It's not worth it, Christopher. The path of good versus evil or vice versa can only lead you to an early grave. For thousands of years, that's how it's always been until I came along. The only thing that can save you is by ascending higher than those petty rules of good and evil, like I have. Power is the only way to do that. There is no good or evil Chris. Why can't you learn to accept the truth?"

"Because it's not the truth. And you didn't use to believe that."

"Well I do now. Even your family that you love so much died in vain over an inconsequential fight that can never be won. What you're doing is wrong. "

Chris tore at his hair as he practically screamed in frustration, ranting wildly. "No, Wyatt! This whole situation is wrong. These are not your beliefs; not the way your were taught. This is a result of whatever somebody did to screw up your thinking when you were little. And now it's just become a product of what you've learned from all of the death and destruction in your life!"

The older witch grinned as he stroked his chin nostalgically. "There is something to be said for all of the death and destruction—keeps the subjects in line."

Jutting his chin out defiantly, Chris's green eyes flashed stubbornly, "Well I'm never going to be one of your little _subjects_ to be kept in line."

Wyatt rolled his eyes a bit, weary of his brother's petulant stance. He explained with as much patience as he could muster, but it was rapidly growing thin. "I don't want you to be. _What I want _is for you to accept things the way they are. Accept your place. Stop trying to remold everything simply because you don't like it. You're acting like a spoiled brat."

Chris's mouth hung open in disbelief. Had the man heard nothing he said? "You think this is about me? That this is some kind of game for me because I simply want my way? Listen clearly—this isn't about me! It's about YOU! And every psychotic thought and deed you've ever graced the world with. You were blessed with more power in your little pinky than anyone has ever possessed in their entire body—and you were destined for great things. But they screwed that all up. I'm not letting that happen again."

Wyatt shifted his position, drawing his shoulders to full height in an impressively intimidating stance. His tone gave a subtle warning, "Come home, Christopher. Stop this foolishness."

Chris knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but he couldn't help it. His natural tendency to rebel had been firmly implanted in him, courtesy of the Halliwell genes. Unfortunately in his case, that tendency nearly always came with a price—_trouble_. Christopher was doubly aware that his brother didn't like to be backed into a corner, least of all by his own words. Bringing them back up, showing the error in them, would only serve to antagonize the older man. No one corrected the heir to Excalibur and lived to tell about it. For anyone else, that would be a death sentence.

He would just have to bank on the fact that he wasn't just anyone else. Right now, more than anything else—he simply wanted his brother to return to the future—_alone_. Chris wasn't needed there, so why should he go? He would only cause more trouble for his sibling if he were forced back. He only needed a way to make him see that for himself.

Against his better judgment, Chris reminded him of the words his brother had gritted out in the heat of their last confrontation in the future. "You said you didn't need me."

Chris knew the moment the words were out of his mouth that Wyatt had just reached his boiling point. The flicker of anger that darted in those cold blue eyes only intensified with the grinding halt of his jaw. He backed up a step when Wyatt inched forward slowly, a menacing gleam boring straight into him.

"I don't. But I can't very well leave you here to your own devices, now can I?" Wyatt's tone lowered dangerously as he warned his brother, "You will die over this."

Chris looked saddened by the words. "By your hand?" he asked in surprise.

Wyatt turned to his open palm, the glow from the energy ball lighting up his face eerily. "If need be."

A look of resignation passed over the younger man. His shoulders slumped disappointedly, "Look, I'm getting really tired of trying to justify myself to you. You're never going to get it. I'm not going back with you until I've done what I came here to do. So let's just get this over with right now. Kill me if that's what you really want—cause it's the only way you're ever going to stop me."

Christopher was not a gambling man, but at the moment, he could think of nothing else except to use his brother's own tactics against him. He closed his eyes as his heart beat wildly, trying to hide the fear and doubt he held in them. He prayed that his brother would see it as a calm, but firm acceptance at what he had just suggested—the fact that he was ready to die for his cause.

Eyes still closed, his body tensed when he heard the familiar whirring sound of one of his brother's most deadliest powers activating. He had bore witness to many who had heard that sound before their demise. And it was their screams he now heard echoing in his mind. His breath shuddered fearfully while he awaited the intense pain of such a death to follow.

A minute later, there was nothing left of his target except the black ash that littered the air after Wyatt hurled the full-powered energy ball.

Christopher's knees went weak while his gaze shot open to the obliterated couch that had stood beside him a few minutes earlier. He glanced at his brother in chagrin to hide the panic he was feeling. "You know that was moms favorite couch?"

A little more confidently this time, Chris tried to stir the soul he knew lay within his brother. "You can't do it, can you? You can't bring yourself to end your little brother's life. Admit it, Wy. I still mean something to you regardless of the fact that it drives you crazy to do it." Brazenly, he poked his finger into Wyatt's chest, "You see, that heart that you like to pretend is dead? Well it isn't. It's still in there somewhere. Right along with the rest of my brother. And I'm gonna' get him back—whether you like it or not."

With lightening fast speed, the blonde grabbed at the hand and flipped his brother over onto the floor, holding and twisting his arm painfully in the process. He dug his booted heel into his chest to hold him in place, ignoring his little brother's squirming and telekinetic attempts to free himself. "Maybe I won't kill you," he contemplated out loud for Chris's benefit. "And since you've been so kind as to point out that disgustingly moral flaw I seem to have inherited...You've given me an idea."

If Chris believed he was getting away, he was severely mistaken. He had thought that since Wyatt could no longer orb, he would be able to escape his grasp using the blue and white lights. While he managed to orb, he was mildly surprised when he arrived on the opposite side of the room and found himself still firmly planted under Wyatt's foot, his brother grinning down on him with a snide expression.

He winced painfully as Wyatt twisted his arm further and dug the sharp heel into him further. _Damn!_ he thought, _I should have gotten him rubber-soled shoes to go with the shirt. _ "What are you going to do? Fight with me until neither one of us can stand up, in the hopes that I'll eventually give in. Because the only thing that will accomplish is you getting your ass kicked by your baby brother. Just one request—can we go someplace else and have it out? Piper and the others would kill us if we destroyed her club."

Wyatt laughed heartily at the younger man's snarling words, thoroughly enjoying what he considered a hollow threat. "No, Piper and the others would kill _you_—they're good at that. Besides, I'm currently the only one standing. And yet, you think you could ever be a match for me? Honestly, I would very much enjoy stripping you of that overconfident arrogance. One. Broken. Bone. at a time. And while that is an interesting idea I may entertain later--No. That's not what I have in mind right now."

"Then what do you want from me?"

Blue eyes met green as he replied thoughtfully, "Freedom to rule the world as I see fit. Peace from this insufferable, nagging conscience that just won't let me kill you as I've done to thousands of others who've opposed me. But I've been thinking that I won't have to. I'm starting to think that perhaps it would have been better off if I never had a brother to begin with. _Nothing ever had is nothing missed. _Right, Chris."

Fear gripped the younger man's voice as he understood the meaning immediately, "You don't want to do that…"

Wyatt leaned in curiously, "Why not? I'd just be helping you along. You've already screwed up your own existence by splitting them up early. Maybe I'll just keep you locked away in some little hole until it's past your conception date."

"They know about me, now. You made sure of that. They wouldn't let that happen."

Wyatt gazed at him tenderly, his words contrasting sharply with the expression. "What with how good you've been getting at lying as of late, I'm guessing that they don't know how old you really are, so they'll never know when it's time."

For the first time, Chris saw the possibility of his own non-existence. He would be erased from time all together. And Wyatt would be happily evil and blissfully unaware of the loss. He fought back the tears trying to reason with his sibling. "You'd be alone, Wyatt."

Wyatt replied indifferently, "I'm alone now. What's the difference?"

"No one would understand you. Not like I do."

"But the problem is—_you _don't.

"You could make things worse…"

"How much worse could they get?"

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews. I can't tell you how excited I was to see them in my inbox. You guys are really the best part of writing. I'm tearing up here…


	6. Of All the People6

Of All the People

Chapter 6

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: Hi everyone, I started writing the families reaction and it just got so complicated, that I have to work on it a whole lot more before that part is finished. But then the next scene with Wyatt & Chris is finished, so I figured you would rather me post it than keep you waiting, right? I hope:)

AND I swear--I was trying to keep up with responding to the reviews personally—but just keeps confusing me with new ones showing up on the review page—that isn't in the same order as the email alerts. And now I'm having trouble with my email account, so I'm too afraid I'm going to miss someone—AGAIN, because that would really hurt my feelings.

So with that, I'd like to say one big HUGE THANK YOU! to everyone who has reviewed—it means so much to me. If I can resist---cause I want to do it so badly, I'll hold the individual ones until the end—or maybe just until next chapter since the story is meant to be kind of short.

One more note: Don't worry guys, I don't reverse a character once I start it. So if you notice a change, I'm just having a little fun with the complexities of the character:)

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Hours had passed since he had conjured the sleeping dust and sprinkled it in his brother's face before spiriting them both away from the club. He glanced around the hardened stone walls, shivering slightly from the drafty air, but his eyes kept falling on the prone figure he had laid on the stone. The figure that now slept peacefully and had thus resisted all attempts to be roused.

_Perhaps I used too much,_ he thought grimly, unaccustomed to second guessing himself. _Or perhaps he doesn't want to wake up._

Wyatt sat in the darkened shadows of his new surroundings, his knees drawn to his chest protectively. He had come to the past in search of answers. And now that he had found most of them, he suddenly found himself at a crossroads. '_To every problem, there is a solution—or two'_, he could hear his mother's voice echoing in his mind from decades past. Though he hadn't thought of the woman in years, he could now picture her saying them as clear as day, smiling down on him with that ever resilient tone of hers.

The prospect of the solution his mind had first come to, had surprisingly given him an uneasy feeling. The mixed feeling of trepidation, combined with a sense of relief, was something he was not familiar with. At least, not for a very long time. In his time, the great Wyatt Matthew Halliwell was known for his cunning and ruthless decisiveness, always delivering either swift rewards or punishment with equal fervor. As he had been told on many occasions, it was a true sign of a well to do leader—and it was a skill that he possessed in spades.

So the very idea that he now sat here questioning his decision was quite absurd by his standards. And it all came back to his one weakness—the brother that could instill self-doubt and loathing within him just as easily as if he could inject it with a syringe.

It made him unstable, unfit to rule everything in creation if he couldn't discipline himself to rule his own thoughts.

_That's why I need to do this…_he tried to convince himself. _But am I _ready _to do this—there will be no turning back. Yes_, he thought firmly for a moment. _I am?_

Dragging his hands through his hair, he blew out a frustrated breath. Things could be so much simpler if his brother had only sided with him rather than against him. They could rule together. He could tolerate the younger man ingratiating himself into the very fiber of his being, but only if it benefited him somehow.

But his brother wanted him to be 'good'. How could he in good conscience, choose one side or the other, especially when he no longer believed in either side.

_Damn him! _He cursed under his breath. _This should be easy. He betrayed me! _It's as simple as black and white. _Or is it? _

Another thought forming, he held out his hand and conjured a potion, one that he himself had taken years ago. '_To every problem, there is a solution—or two'_, he thought while the beginnings of a smile formed on his lips. He glided over to the sleeping man, prying his mouth open while tilting the head of dark hair back and released the vial's contents.

Laying him back down, Wyatt returned to his corner and sighed deeply in anticipation. It would take several doses to truly become effective…

Tired of waiting for nature to take its course, Wyatt flicked his wrist at his brother, telekinetically sending him scurrying to the floor. He grinned in amusement when the younger man landed with a thud and a groan.

When Christopher awoke, the pounding headache made it difficult to focus on his surroundings. But then it _was _pitch black. His eyes hadn't yet adjusted to the dark. But he didn't need his eyesight to know that he wasn't alone. When a flickering candle in front of him was lit, his vision quickly adapted to the figure that held it. Wyatt slowly moved a few feet in front of him and lit several torches that surrounded the stone slab he had just been so rudely awoken from.

Panic began to set in as he recognized the family mausoleum that had only been recently purchased. Piper and her sisters had wanted something large enough to accommodate the immediate family and any direct descendents, but most importantly, something that was out of the public eye and remote. They had found a way to shield it from all magical presences, including the Elders. The sisters had wanted to ensure that at least they would have peace in death even if they could never find it in life.

In his future, his mother and her three sisters were all buried there. He had spent many a night mourning their loss within its walls. And as such, he knew that from the outside, no sounds could ever be heard from within.

He edged his way to his feet, sliding against the cold marble. Quickly trying to orb, he cursed loudly as he felt the tingling sensation in his body only begin to stir, yet nothing happened. He tried again repeatedly before he was interrupted by Wyatt's quiet voice.

Wyatt supplied helpfully, "That feeling that something is supposed to be there when it's not? It will go away eventually. I used a potion to suppress all of your whitelighter senses, just like I have mine. But I've been generous enough to allow you to shimmer. _If_--you take those potions over there."

Chris glanced at one of the many vials next to him that his brother gestured to. He reached his hand out temptingly, but quickly withdrew it. He didn't want to turn like his brother had, nor did he want to take the chance that the potion's effects might be of a permanent nature. He crossed his arms instead. "This is a really pathetic attempt, Wyatt. You're going to resort to trying to turn me?"

Wyatt grinned, the thrill of taunting the younger man just as he had done when they were children had not diminished with age. "Why not?" he said mockingly. "You're trying to do it to me…The son's of a Charmed Witch need to be on the same side. I'm not sure if it really matters which one."

At the withered look he received, the blonde gave up and adopted a more serious expression, "It won't _turn _you, Christopher. It's designed to simply make you more aligned to your family's interests...whatever they may be."

Chris ran his tongue along the inside of his mouth, tasting a bitter substance that had not been there before his impromptu nap. He knew that most likely his brother already had, but grimaced as he stated questioningly, "You could have given it to me yourself…"

"I already have. So there's really no reason to refuse it now. I simply want _you _to make the choice. The first dose only suppressed the whitelighter in you. Each successive dose will bring you closer to who you really are."

The brunette shook his head furiously. "Yeah, evil! Just like you. No way. No way."

"Suit yourself. It is the only way you're getting out of here. And you don't have much time left."

Christopher set his jaw stubbornly, grinding his teeth together. "You can't do this."

"I can. And I will. I've left you plenty of food and water, you won't starve. But they'll never find you here. No one will hear you. You can't contact them, and you can't leave—without that potion. So you can either decide to take it, and return to the future with me—willingly, and rule by my side. Or we can all forget that Christopher Perry Halliwell ever existed. The choice is yours, brother." Wyatt stood, making his intent to leave clear to the younger man.

Stalling as long as he could, Chris tilted his head inquisitively and asked suddenly, "Do you love me, Wyatt?"

Wyatt bristled at the startling question, stopping dead in his tracks. Though the voice was deep, aged into a man—he only heard the childlike tone in the words. It was that same voice that had asked the exact question eighteen years ago. "What?"

_After yet another birthday that his father had abandoned him with nothing more than a letter that he couldn't read yet, the five year old had been told by his mother that his father really did love him, and that he hadn't meant to neglect him. So if Daddy wasn't around because he loved him, Chris pondered, than leaving them was a requirement of loving someone. And so he had asked his older brother, "Do you love me, Wy?"_

_The seven year old looked up from his mouthful of birthday cake, "Of course. You're my brother."_

"_Then you'll leave me too…" the tiny soft voice replied sadly. _

_Bright blue eyes returned the look intensely, "I'll never leave you…"_

Wyatt paused again, unable to shake the old memory until his brother's voice interrupted. It held more than a hint of sadness to it. When he looked up, the sage-green eyes filled with moisture held his gaze steady.

"If you're going to leave me here to die like this, then I at least need to know."

"Don't be so dramatic. I gave you a choice. You don't have to die."

The younger of the two shook his head, refusing to be swayed by the dismissive tone. "I deserve an answer. Because I never stopped loving my brother. So when did he stop returning the favor?"

Wyatt dropped his head, unable to look into his brother's shining eyes. He hated himself for the admission even as he spoke the words quietly, "He didn't."

"Then how can you do this to me?"

"Because I need to be free of you. There's no more middle ground, Christopher. And I can't have you against me."

Chris heard the silent desperation in his brother's voice, the meaning behind the unspoken words suddenly clearing as an old adage came to mind—'_can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.' _Maybe there was hope for him yet. "So you do need me…" he murmured as he watched the witch turn his back.

"Yes," Wyatt admitted hastily before shimmering out, leaving Chris alone with his thoughts.

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews.


	7. Of All the People7

Of All the People

Chapter 7

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: The family's reaction…

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"Chris," Leo whispered in shock as his body sagged heavily against the wall. "It was my father's name."

As soon as the young men had left, Piper fell through the force field landing on her hands since it had been the only thing supporting her weight. She looked up in shock to her sisters. "He shimmered. Did my son just shimmer? _My son…_And I have another son…Oh my—" she put her head down between her legs trying to control the rapid breathing. "My son. And I tried to kill him…"

Phoebe clutched at her head before falling to her knees from the sheer pain of the emotions in the room. Coupled with her own guilt over the situation, the empath was on overload. Not even the blocking potion had done much good in this case. Her eyes glazed over lethargically before she finally curled up on the floor and passed out. Everyone else was so caught up in their own grief, that no one noticed.

Wiping her eyes repeatedly, Paige shuffled her feet over to her oldest sister, dropping down next to her heavily. She clasped her hands together pleadingly, her words running together almost incoherently. "I'm so sorry, Piper. I should have thought first. I should have known who he was—he looks like—and—I almost killed him. I'm so sorry…"

She stared at her shaking hands. It was those hands that had nearly murdered her own nephew. She pictured the imaginary blood on them, and they were covered in it. She would never be able to wash them clean. Paige knew that the image of his near death; the horrible sounds of what were nearly his last moments, knowing that she was the cause, would haunt her until her dying day. _But I deserve it, _she told herself.

For the first time, the youngest Charmed One wished that she never had orbing telekinesis. This just wasn't right. _How could this have happened_, she thought bitterly as she rocked back and forth rhythmically. She was only trying to protect her family. Not destroy it. How was she ever going to look him in the eye again? She worried if they could ever repair their relationship, but mostly, she worried if he would ever forgive her. _The murdering Aunt_, was the self imposed nicked-name that echoed in her mind. _How could he_? She reasoned. Because she could never forgive herself...

Piper barely heard her baby sister through her own emotional turmoil. She couldn't believe how utterly wrong she had been about him. While it was true that most of what he said had been packed with lies, he did it with an obvious reason. To save his family. His older brother. But when he finally had spoken some truth about his true mission to the past, they hadn't believed him. After he was born, she was going to have to remember to teach him an old fable about the boy who cried wolf when he was old enough.

Her thoughts soon drifted to her oldest son's demeanor. He certainly hadn't seemed very good, especially in light of his authoritative and overly demanding tone. And to begin with, he had fired an energy ball at his little brother when he first arrived. They both had certainly looked the worse for wear when they first entered. She surveyed the room briefly, finally noticing that the room was practically in shambles, a result of their earlier altercation. So apparently while Wyatt didn't wish him dead, maiming his sibling was perfectly acceptable.

Piper recalled a time just after the incident with Bianca. She had passed by the bathroom one afternoon when he apparently thought no one was home. Backing away quietly, she had watched him curiously as he removed her makeup from the cabinet. She inhaled sharply when she spotted the heavy bruising surrounding his neck—which he made a point to conceal from them upon his return. She backed away quickly when he turned suddenly, nearly catching her spying on him.

Craning his neck suspiciously, his vision found nothing for the sounds he thought he heard. Satisfied that he was alone, he returned to his task.

She crept back slowly and watched as he carefully dotted on her foundation and covered up the dark markings. She remembered thinking sadly that Leo could have healed that for him. But he obviously didn't want to talk about it, and thinking it none of her business at the time, she had slipped back down the stairs quietly unnoticed. She now knew that her oldest son had most likely been the cause of those bruises. And that thought only made her cry harder.

And last but not least, her oldest son could no longer heal—and he shimmered. His whitelighter powers seemed to have been traded in for something more sinister, a true sign of evil if she ever saw one. Chris was right all along. Her son had turned. And Chris had tried so desperately to prevent it. The all night and frequent vanquishing requests, well, more like demands. The constant research—he was simply covering all bases because more than likely, he didn't know what had caused her oldest son's downward path.

But Chris had offered the knowledge that he had, in his own way of course, his very life even to save his brother and the rest of his family. And the only thing they had offered him in return was distrust, maltreatment, and a handy dose of verbal abuse thrown in for good measure.

And now because they had refused to give him the benefit of the doubt, he was out there somewhere. With someone who could, and probably would, do him harm.

Her body shook as she recalled every horrible glance; every horrible thought; and every horrible action that they had directed towards him from the moment he arrived. She wished she could take it all back. But it was too late for that. The only thing she could do now was find him. Sparing a glance to her former husband, she noted that he was coping with the new knowledge just as well.

Leo sagged against the wall in the foyer, finding it difficult to draw in air suddenly. If he hadn't already been dead, the lack of oxygen for so long would have certainly killed him.

Christopher had only sought to help them. This, he now finally believed. All of the young man's seemingly duplicitous actions over the past few months now made complete sense to him. He simply loved his family more than life itself. And had nearly paid the ultimate price for doing so.

He found it hard to digest, that the man that he had grown to distrust, barely tolerate, and sometimes even hate with such a passionate fury, could turn around and be someone he was supposed to love unconditionally.

He had been suspicious of him since day one, and rightly so. The Elder had always thought that Chris had sent him off to Valhalla to have him killed, and that he had just been lucky enough to avoid that fate. But if the boy hadn't even been conceived yet, it was a pretty safe bet that Leo's survival could not have simply been his own good fortune. Chris had to have played a roll in keeping him relatively safe, yet still out of the way in order to accomplish his mission in the past.

_A mission to save his family,_ Leo thought grimly. _And I was going to let him die…_ _What kind of father am I who doesn't even recognize his own son when he sees him?_ All of the signs were there. A whitelighter comes back from the future wit the sole purpose of saving Wyatt—his son. Who else but family would travel across time and space to right a wrong?

And if the action alone wasn't enough to stir the question in him, then how about the boy's looks? It was only now that it was pointed out to him that he saw it, but Christopher was the spitting image of his mother. And his eyes—he had bright green, soulful eyes that were most definitely Leo's own. The only difference being that his own were a pale shade of blue.

_How could he have not seen it? _He berated himself angrily. And if all of that wasn't enough, after he had come back from the future a few months ago, they found out that he was half witch/half whitelighter. Who else but a Halliwell would defy the Elders so boldly as to have a child with a whitelighter? If they had speculated on his approximate age correctly, the timing would definitely fit with him being the son of a Charmed Sister. And there was only one ever involved with a whitelighter. _Make that Elder, _he thought wryly before pinching the bridge of his nose.

They had already produced one child out of that previously forbidden union, and now they apparently had produced two. He tried to push off from the wall, but his last thought took his breath away as he crashed backwards again.

Finally, he gave up trying to stand. He found that his legs were shaking so badly that they refused to support his weight, so he took a seat on the floor. He mumbled out loud in disbelief, "I almost killed my own son! I was going to let him die."

The toddler shifted his curious gaze from his mother, to the other adults in the room. He had just done a good thing. So why was everyone rolling around on the floor? They were just all confusing. He pouted now that they all ignored him. Letting out a shrill cry, he knew that he would be picked up immediately. That would get their attention.

Not even a year old, Wyatt was very perceptive. Everyone was broken out of their thoughts and turned to him. Piper was closest and reached out to comfort the small boy. In doing so, she finally noticed her middle sister's condition and made her way over to her. "Phoebe! Leo, help her."

Leo finally gathered his wits and orbed over to his sister-in-law. Hovering his hands over her head, Phoebe finally began to stir.

She grabbed her head to stop the pounding. Moaning softly, she asked "Did you get the license of that truck?" The pounding increased and she knew it would only get worse unless her family quickly regained control of their emotions. "You guys, please? You have to focus—you're all overloading me here with guilt. I have enough of my own without dealing with yours as well." They all looked down guiltily, trying to get a handle on their emotions, for their sake as well as the empath's.

Moments later, Piper decided that they couldn't afford to dwell on what had been any longer. They needed to focus on what was happening right now. Her youngest son needed her. She had let him down. And even though she had done nothing but since the day he arrived in the past, she was determined not to let it happen again.

After the demonic cult had tried to turn her toddler into their leader, Piper had been the strongest supporter that Wyatt couldn't possibly grow up to be evil. But after what she saw earlier, she no longer held that faith in him. She pointed out to her family, anxious to go after them, "Wyatt...Chris was right. He's turned. He shimmered. And he's got Chris! We have to go after them."

Leo tried to reason, still clinging to the hope that he hadn't raised a son that could turn out so horribly. "But he can't be all evil. He still obviously cared for Chris and wouldn't let him die. Not like I did," he added sadly. "I don't think he'll hurt him."

Piper pounded her fist into her hand. "But he would! First of all, as soon as Chris came to the door this afternoon, Wyatt hit him with an energy ball. I don't call that brotherly love, do you? Don't you see—Wyatt is the one who sent Bianca back for him. He was the one Chris was fighting with in the future. I know I should have said something before, but I figured it was his business. But when he got back from the future, I saw bruises on his neck that he covered up with makeup. It was pretty obvious that someone had tried to strangle him. And I think it's pretty obvious now that that someone was Wyatt. Maybe he won't kill his little brother, but he has no qualms about hurting him one little bit."

The color drained from each of their faces. Leo began to worry and tried to sense for Chris, "I can't sense him. What do we do now?"

His wife answered with a calmness she didn't feel. She wasn't sure what it meant that they couldn't sense the half whitelighter, but she was sure it wasn't good. "We find him. He's out there somewhere right now. With someone who's not afraid to harm him."

"You're a bit late for that. Aunt Paige already beat me to it." Wyatt commented dryly as he shimmered in behind them.

Piper pushed her way forward to meet her eldest son. To anyone else, the power emanating from him would have been intimidating to say the least. His tall and overbearing presence only added to the effect. But Piper Halliwell wasn't anyone else. She was still his mother. She grabbed his shirt collar boldly, "What did you do with him?"

Wyatt had to laugh at his mother's brazen behavior and the fact that she would never change. He shimmered out of her grasp and landed on the couch in the living room. Crossing his legs, he leaned back into the cushions and made himself comfortable before answering. "Just a few short hours ago, you were all content to let him bleed to death on your dining room floor. So now you care what happens to him? Don't make me laugh."

"We didn't know..." Paige defended weakly.

"_As if that's an excuse_," Wyatt tossed at her harshly as he rolled his eyes in disgust. "You're all supposed to be _GOOD. _Protecting the innocents and all...yet how long did it take you to condemn a man to death without even a trial? It seems as if the line between good and evil has become blurred for you four. I've been lucky enough to overcome that. But because of your influence, Christopher wasn't."

Piper asked him incredulously, "You want to blame us for the mess you've created? None of this would have ever happened if he hadn't come back to save you from turning evil. And I think it's pretty obvious that you have indeed turned. Now I'll ask you again, where is he?"

Wyatt couldn't remember the last time anyone had ever talked to him like that, except for his brother. And for some reason, he found it strangely amusing. Growing up, his brother always used to be the trouble maker for their parents, earning him that scolding look she now gave him as her patience wore thin. And Chris would make the most out of irritating his mother until she wished she could blow him up, or at least send away him to summer camp. Now he knew why his brother used to do it so often.

He cocked his head to the side and held his hand up to his ear, "I believe I heard an '_or else' _in that sentence. What are you going to do, ground me?"

Phoebe recognized the stalling for it was and asked her oldest nephew. She asked him calmly, "Where is your brother?"

Wyatt ignored them as he smiled invitingly to his younger self. With a wave of his hand, the child appeared in his lap and stared up at him wondrously. He didn't even speak as the child intuitively sensed what he wanted and began to heal the wounds from Chris' spikes in his leg and shoulder.

When they were healed, he sat the toddler on the couch next to him. He waved his hand and removed the spikes that had caused the injury out of the wall and onto the floor. Being active and in the wall could potentially spark a fire, and he didn't want to change too much of the past.

Paige bent down and tried to pick up the curious object, but dropped it back to the floor in literal shock as the electricity coursed through her body.

Wyatt grinned at the stunned look on her face as she dropped to the ground on her backside. "Oh, I forgot to mention—those spikes that Chris shoots out of his hands are still active electricity for half a day. I wouldn't touch them for a while, if I were you."

Piper also recognized the stalling tactic as she bent down to help her sister up. A feeling of dread began to form, and she asked him with a new sense of urgency, "Wyatt, please. Where is your brother? What did you do?"

The older blonde folded his hands in his lap as he looked to his mother, regret evident in his bright blue eyes. "I removed an obstacle in my path," he said grimly before shimmering out.

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews.


	8. Of All the People8

Of All the People

Chapter 8

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: short chapter, I know, but I was working on finishing my other story. Now that it's done, I can spend more time on this one. I think next chapter, I'll show the family's efforts in trying to find Chris, and also more Wyatt/Chris interaction.

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Chris sat alone in the dark, the candles having long since burned out by the displaced air of Wyatt's shimmer.

He thought it was a good thing death didn't bother him, because if it did, he would probably be freaking out as he sat next to his Aunt Prue's final resting place.

He knew that it probably wouldn't work, but he concentrated and tried to orb anyway. "Damn it!" he cursed again. Wyatt was many things, but a liar wasn't one of them. He even noted that what his brother said about the feeling was even true. When he tried to orb, he no longer felt like this body was charged to go while nothing happened. Orbing had always been second-nature to him, but he now felt the absence of the ability and his body no longer missed it.

He would have loved to orb out of there, but he knew there was no way he was getting out of there of his own free will. At least, not unless he decided to go evil.

But then again, Wyatt had said the potion wouldn't turn him. He recalled his words, _'It won't turn you, Christopher. It's designed to simply make you more aligned to your family's interests...whatever they may be." _But what did those words mean exactly? Did that mean he would still be able to fight its effects, or would he loose all free will if he surrendered to it?

He decided to weigh the pros and cons. On the one hand, he had already been given a dose, and he wasn't quite sure if it was even reversible or not. And if it wasn't, he'd be stuck without orbing powers. And his major offensive powers that he had just decided to use again would be shot. He may need them if he ended up having to go up against Wyatt again.

The potion would solve the transportation problem. He could get used to shimmering. But on the other hand, the demons he dealt with to get answers would certainly trust him more if he could shimmer vs. orb. And maybe he'd even pick up a few new powers like Wyatt had. _Fireballs_. He started to smile in anticipation until he caught himself worriedly.

What if the potion was already scrambling his brain? Since when has he ever wanted to throw fireballs or shimmer for that matter? Then he reasoned sadly, _since it could mean the difference between life and death._ He tried to think if he had the sudden urge to murder innocents. "No_"_, he mumbled with satisfaction. And he still even wanted to save his brother. Though he was disappointed that the older man didn't feel the same, at least—on a consistent basis.

He sighed loudly before jumping down off the marble centerpiece and began his search for the food. Christopher grimaced when he saw what his brother considered to be a meal. "Peanut butter and jelly?" he scoffed loudly. He hadn't eaten that since he was a kid. If his brother was going to give him a last meal, then at least he could have made it a stake or something.

Having nothing else, he set about making a sandwich to quell the sudden hunger. He mixed it up like his mother used to do for him before spreading it on the bread. His mother wasn't the only one who used to do that for him. When Wyatt took over as his guardian, he also took over many of the routines that Chris had become accustomed to in order to make it easier for him to adjust to not having the oldest Charmed One around.

He brought the sandwich to lips and prepared to take a bite, when a memory suddenly brought a smile to his lips.

"_Chris, come and eat dinner!"_

_As the young brunette orbed downstairs, he expected to find a hot meal awaiting him. Instead with what he saw, he glanced at his brother strangely for a moment as he sat down to the table. He had definitely smelled food cooking earlier, but one look at the burnt results scraped into the trash can told him how successful his older brother had been in his efforts. He shrugged and picked up his sandwich. _

_Wyatt shuffled his feet a bit, a little self conscious at his lack of cooking skills. He avoided looking at his brother in case he saw the disappointment in his eyes while he scooped the mixed up spread onto another slice of bread. "Forget this!" he grumbled in frustration before flicking his wrists and conjuring a full course meal._

_Chris frowned as his brother raised his fork to his mouth, fully intending to take a bite of the hot meal. He flicked his own wrists and knocked it down to the plate._

"_What did you do that for?" he complained._

"_Personal gain, Wy. You know mom wouldn't approve. I don't mind eating the sandwich. Really—I like it."_

_Rolling his eyes, Wyatt groaned, "You can't eat peanut butter and jelly every day! And grandpa can't come downstairs all the time to cook. He's too sick to do it anymore. He can barely get out of bed."_

_Chris replied hopefully, "Well maybe dad can—"_

"_Dad doesn't give a damn about us. If he did, he would have been here after Aunt Phoebe died."_

_Green eyes stared down at the food despondently, not quite sure if he believed his own words, "Well, grandpa will get better, you'll see. The Elders wouldn't leave us with no one."_

_His own anger over the situation almost made him lash out at his little brother and tell him the truth—that their grandfather—their legal guardian—was near death. He had tried, but the Elder's hadn't allowed him to use his healing powers to cure an ailment that was 'natural and self-inflicted' they said. 'He shouldn't have smoked those cigars' they said. 'What good were those healing powers', he thought bitterly, 'if you couldn't use them to heal?'_

'_But if Victor just held on for another month', he hoped, he would turn 18 and be able to be Chris' legal guardian. He wouldn't allow the state to come in and separate the two. If demons couldn't do it, he certainly was going to allow some stupid-bureaucratic-mortal-government to do it. _

_He stopped himself just as his prior words held on the tip of his tongue. He didn't want to upset the boy anymore than he already was. Instead, he mumbled with a false smile, avoiding his brother's eyes, "Yeah, sure he will. But in the mean time, you need a hot meal once in a while. So how about we compromise? You'll eat the sandwiches at every meal EXCEPT dinner—that I will conjure?"_

_Chris seemed satisfied. He nodded with a small grin before floating the hot meal into the trash. He took a bite of his sandwich and answered Wyatt's unspoken look of confusion. "Starting tomorrow."_

_Wyatt shrugged and picked up his own sandwich…_

Chris couldn't help the grin that escaped. Wyatt had cared for him far too much for him to believe that he didn't mean anything to his brother. If he could only manage to get Wyatt to remember times like those, there was no way the older man would go through with his new plan.

Besides, his brother's simple choice of a meal told him that Wyatt did care in his own way. He wouldn't have attempted to make him comfortable with something so familiar otherwise. He wondered if the older witch was even aware of how much the small gesture meant. _Probably not,_ he thought.

He set about making a second sandwich and held off on eating his own.

When Wyatt shimmered back in, he held out the food while his brother accepted it hesitantly and returned to a position in the corner. As they shared a silent meal, Chris ate happily as he recognized the first step to tearing down that hardened wall his brother had erected around his heart.

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews.


	9. Of All the People9

Of All the People

Chapter 9

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: I had a few problems uploading this last night after I fixed a few things, so I appologize to everyone if you received an alert twice.

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At the manor… 

Paige was the first to speak after Wyatt left, "What did he mean, 'an obstacle'? Do you think Chris is–"

"No." Piper said firmly. "I refuse to believe that."

"Then why can't we sense him? Leo's an Elder, if anybody could sense him, he could. What if he's--"

Piper whipped her head around angrily, "He's not! Chris is not dead! Wyatt wouldn't have fought us so hard to save his life if he was just going to kill him the second he left our sight."

Paige folder her arms around her herself protectively and shrunk back a little. "Maybe Wyatt didn't mean to. Like it was an accident or something."

Piper calmed herself, recognizing Paige's association of Wyatt with her own actions. Her younger sister simply felt guilty at nearly killing her nephew, and no amount of platitudes would ever make the fact sit right with her. She pulled the younger woman into her arms and allowed her to cry on her shoulder. "Paige, I don't blame you, ok? You were only trying to protect our family."

"But I almost tore it apart."

"No. We didn't know, ok? But now we do. Chris is my son, your nephew, and he's out there somewhere. You have to let this go, because I need you right now. I need you to help me find my son and bring him home--safely. Please. Can you do that?"

Paige wiped her eyes again and nodded before she pointed to the attic. "I'll get the scrying crystal."

Piper watched her sister orb away and turned to the other. "Phoebe, I need you to write a Power of Three spell to summon Chris home just in case that doesn't work."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm his mother—I'm going to try variations on the blood-to-blood summoning spell and the lost witch spell. Leo—you're his father, I'll need your help to. Let's get moving—I have a terrible feeling that we don't have much time."

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_The mausoleum…_

_He's up to something_, Wyatt silently observed the dark-haired man grinning as he munched on his sandwich. When he arrived, he had been getting hungry himself, so he accepted the offering, not quite sure what it meant.

From anyone else, he would rather starve because he knew that it would certainly have been poisonous. But Chris wouldn't resort to something so cowardly. If he wanted him dead, he would have preferred to face him head on. _That is _why the younger man strutted back through the portal confidently, not a hint of fear in his stony features amidst his demonic body guards. Even with no powers, he defied him in words and attitude as he prepared to accept and counter whatever the older witch could throw at him.

It's the way his little brother had always handled things, at least, until his trip to the past. He still wasn't quite sure why Chris had gone about it the way he had—secretive and conniving. _Unless he had been influenced by that Phoenix._ She was a good employee until she betrayed him, and he was sorry that she was dead. Almost. He was more sorry that her death had spread the rift between the brothers even further apart.

He hesitated a moment before he spoke, "I'm sorry about Bianca."

Chris spun around quickly, the smile fading into a suspicious frown. "No you're not."

"It was an accident, Chris. She attacked me, what was I supposed to do?"

"Oh here's a thought—how about not try to kill your brother in the first place? Then she wouldn't have had to attack you, would she?"

Wyatt gritted his teeth, the aggravation clear in his tone. "How many times do I have to say it—I was not trying to kill you!"

The sarcastic response dripped of his tongue easily. "Yeah? Well maybe I'd be more prone to believe that if you weren't holding me hostage to make sure I'm never born. I don't know your definition of death, but I'm pretty sure that fits into mine."

"You don't listen very well. That's always been your problem, Chris."

Chris tilted his head, feigning confusion. "Really? Because you said my problem is that I am, and I quote, "…stuck in that old good vs. evil morass."

He ignored the mocking tone in his brother's voice. "Well then it appears you have several problems then, doesn't it. You know, if you wanted to oppose me, you could have simply done so in the future instead of resorting to sneaking back here to _save me_."

Smiling mischievously, he quipped, "I didn't _sneak_. The fact that you hurled an energy ball at me says that you were quite aware of where I was going."

Wyatt pursed his lips tightly to stop the immature retort from slipping out. "You're just—"

Chris supplied helpfully, "Frustrating? Irritating? Annoying?"

"All of the above."

"Then why do you want me by your side?"

The older man tilted his head in genuine confusion, "I can't figure that part out myself."

"Well I already have. There's a bond there, Wyatt. You can't break it no matter how much you try. And if you manage to erase my existence, you'll always feel like there's something missing in your life."

"You can't miss what you never had."

"But you do have it—right here, right now. That fact that we're brother's will never change. Even if I die. You can never go back to the point where your subconscious will completely forget. You just won't know why you feel that way—what's wrong. You're not ready to give that bond up yet. I mean, you're here aren't you?"

"I needed to know why my own brother would betray me."

Chris spread his arms wide to indicate the darkened crypt. "I don't mean why you came to the past. I mean why are you hanging around in here? There are plenty of other places you could go without them finding you over the next several days. You can't bring yourself to cut me off completely."

The older witch's eyes turned a darker shade of blue as he flushed with anger. If these truly were the last times they would spend together, then he wanted to take advantage of the time. And he knew what his brother said was true, but he tried to convince both himself and the younger man otherwise. "I simply can't allow them to find either of us…"

"Sure," he muttered disbelievingly.

"Why must you always fight me ever step of the way?"

Chris gave him a half smile, "Like when you tried to teach me how to tie my shoes?"

Wyatt grimaced at that incident while they were younger. What had started out as an older brother instructing the younger in something that was supposed to have been simple, instead had turned into an utter catastrophe. The dark-haired boy had refused to let his brother even near his shoes, determination settling into his features while he practiced. Wyatt had to laugh remembering the look on the child's face as his tongue poked out of the side of his mouth in concentration.

The boy had tripped on his untied laces when a demon had charged the pair. The uncontrollable and accidental spikes that had shot out of the boy's hand in the fall had destroyed not only the demon, but their entire bedroom. Piper had _loved that one…_ Chris had nearly burnt down the manor with his stubbornness.

He looked at his younger brother pointedly, "Like when I've tried to teach you a lot of things. Like the fact that good and evil are only words—vague concepts that don't exist in the real world. Tell me—what is good and evil? Can you even tell me what the difference is?"

Chris stared at the floor sadly, knowing he could never win this particular debate even if the two men had been immortal. "If you don't already know the difference, then you're too far gone for me to ever change the way you see them. You're just as stubborn as I am. I know I can never change the way you think—not unless I can get to you before they did."

Wyatt threw him a weary glance, sighing loudly. "Why do you assume that it was someone who 'got to me'? Why can't it simply be that I have evolved past that? Like you should have by now instead of opposing me at every turn."

Green eyes bore into blue earnestly, silently pleading with them to understand. "I don't want to oppose you, Wyatt. I've never wanted that. I just want what you want—for us to be on the same side. Like we used to be. Do you remember when grandpa died, and they tried to make me go into foster care, but you wouldn't let them take me?"

Wyatt scoffed dismissively, "Of course I remember, I'm not a senile old man."

"Why did you do that?" Chris baited him, trying to get him to remember those older times.

"Because I…" Wyatt suddenly broke off, but Chris finished his thought.

"Because you didn't want us to be separated, right? Well I didn't want that either, that's why I ran away. And then you were old enough and they reluctantly let me stay with you. You were the only family I had left. I didn't want to go live with some stranger. Someone who wouldn't understand me, who wouldn't even have a clue what it was like to be half-witch/half-whitelighter."

"I know," came the quiet response.

"Aside from Paige, we're the only ones of our kind."

Wyatt turned his head away, staring off at the wall and doing his best to ignore his brother's words.

"Do you really want to be the only one? I mean, I know that you're the Twice-Blessed and all, but you would be completely unique. Alone. Is that what you really want? "

"You already know what I really want. You just said it yourself. But if I have to make a choice between fighting you constantly for the rest of my life, and--well I'll leave that up to you. Have you made a decision yet? "

"Would we still be sitting here if I had?" Chris asked calmly.

Wyatt gracefully bowed as his own tone dripped with sarcasm. "Oh, by all means then—don't let me rush you into a decision. It's not like it's life or death, right? You still have a few days left. But you're running out of time, you know that."

He shrugged fairly confidently, "Whether or not we're here, mom and dad will figure it out. They'll get together the same as they did the first time. I did the calculations, and I still have nine days."

"Seven…" the blonde uttered in a clipped tone.

"What?" His eyes widened in surprise. If two days had passed, then that was two whole days fewer that he had to work on his brother's conscience. That was kind of cutting it close.

"I said seven--s-e-v-e-n. You were out for nearly a day when after we left the club, so that's one day lost. And I'm guessing that you didn't count the day when you first decided to let the world know that '_Christopher Halliwell doesn't take orders from anyone._' You've always been stubborn. You wouldn't come out and the doctors had to induce labor the day _after _you were supposed to be born in order to get you out. Now you've lost another day. The clock is ticking."

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews.


	10. Of All the People10

Of All the People

Chapter 10

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: Look, I'm updating—twice in two days…a new record for me. So what do you think?

This chapter is almost entirely a flashback from both Chris and Wyatt. I used to work in a family court in the east, but I have no idea if my representations are accurate in San Fran—so keep in mind that this is a product of my own imagination as background and is purely fictional. No animals or demons were harmed in the making of this chapter :)

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_2018…San Francisco Family Court House _

_The judge turned to his court assistant, "In the absence of a living-legal guardian appointed to the two minor children, Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, and Christopher Perry Halliwell, let the record show that the minor Wyatt Matthew Halliwell will be remanded to the Bryson Home for boys until such time as he becomes of legal age. Let the record also show that the minor Christopher Perry Halliwell will be remanded to the temporary care of Julia and Thomas Tate, until such time as a permanent foster placement can be found."_

_The echo of the gavel banging on the table was all that could be heard before the officers moved in to separate the two boys._

_Wyatt was stunned out of his silence when the guard grabbed for his arm. "NO! You can't do this! I won't let you."_

_The judge fired back a response, irritated that the boy would dare speak to him like that. "You seem to be under the impression that you have a choice, young man." He tried to soften his tone to make him understand, "I'm sorry, Wyatt. But that is my final ruling. You can't care for a teenaged boy—you're just a child yourself. I'm truly sorry for your loss, but no..." _

_Wyatt struggled out of the guards grasp and neared the bench. "NO! I've already been taking care of him for over a year." _

_He stared back at the blue-eyed teen crossly. The way his eyes hovered over the rims of his glasses almost made the matter seem trivial. "You were both under your grandfather's care." _

_"A grandfather who was an invalid and couldn't get out of bed. How could he possibly have cared for us? I've done it before, I can keep doing it. And now I'm almost 18! I can take care of him. My mom left me her club—and she taught me how to run it. I can do it, I know I can. And she left the house to us, and we have plenty of savings to live off of for years from my Aunt Phoebe and Grandpa. Check the bank accounts, you'll see! You can't do this!"_

_"Wyatt, you are not even old enough to be IN a night club, let alone run one. And I'm aware of all of the money and property that you will inherit. But all of that requires that you be of legal age, which you are not."_

_"Only for another month," he pleaded desperately._

"_And I am not willing to take the responsibility of whatever harm could befall two teenaged boys alone in the interim. Besides, you have your own life to live—you're too young to be burdened by the responsibilities of fatherhood. I'm sorry, but I am doing what is in the best interest of both you and your brother. Please son, don't make this any harder on him than it has to be…" The judge gathered up his papers and turned to head toward the stairs._

"_You think you can do whatever you want, tearing families apart, just because you have a little bit of power? Well you're wrong! You know NOTHING about power." Wyatt felt himself loosing control as they tried to pull him away. He raised his hands to strike down the judge with every ounce of power that was contained in his body. He only vaguely heard his brother shouting behind him._

"_LET GO OF ME!" _

_He sensed his brother's presence suddenly next to him before he felt the calming hand on his arm, lowering it slowly. The younger boy must have broken free of his 'jailors' too. "Don't do this. It's only for a month, Wy." He whispered to him. "They're not keeping us longer than that." _

Outside of the courthouse, two sets of glassy eyes stared back at one another as they were shuffled into the back seats.

The two cars, each holding a Charmed Son, pulled out of the parking lot heading in different directions. It seemed to be the beginning of where their paths would lead them years down the line…

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_Three weeks later…_

_Chris was in the living room playing a holo-game with several of the other foster boys, each taking a turn at competing against the program. Their boisterous laughter had apparently been too loud, because Thomas Tate, stomped into the den and yanked the controls out of the two player's hands. _

_Most of the youngsters in the room scrambled backwards in fright, having been used to the often sudden and unprovoked, violent temper of their foster father. _

_Chris kept his head down low, having quickly learned from the others that going unnoticed by the brawny man was always a good thing, and he had learned to keep his mouth shut. He wondered why the state had never noticed the sheer number of emergency room accidents that the foster children of this home had. Or the fact that they were all forced to play some kind of contact sport in order to cover up any errant marks and bruises. If the judge thought he was better off here, then he was dreaming. He thought wryly that he'd be safer with demons in the underworld._

_He was too afraid that if the man singled him out for a beating like he did some of the others, he would be forced to expose magic, and that was something that his mother had always drilled into him—never risk exposure, or the cleaners will erase you. He had been lucky so far. So he decided to be as inconspicuous as possible and bide his time until his brother came for him. _

_Unfortunately, Chris was a Halliwell. His luck was bound to run out. And on this day, it finally had. _

'_Tate' as the kids called him, looked around and enjoyed the rush he got from intimidating them. They all cowered under his stony glare, most flinching in anticipation of being struck as he neared. Except for one, he noted. The newest one. That Holloway kid, or something like that. He was kind of mousy, he observed quietly. Probably not even at full height yet; lean—not an ounce of muscle on him. And features too delicate to be anything other than a momma's boy. Too bad his momma ain't here, he thought with a smirk._

_He hadn't learned to fear him properly yet, but he was determined to change that. Tate almost grinned. "Did you hear me, boy? What's your name—Chrissy? Look at me when I'm talking to you."_

_Chris had been so focused on staying low and hoping that Tate bypassed him, that he missed the fact that he was now focusing on him. He was drawn back in by the stinging pain on his cheek where the man had just slapped him. If he were to look in a mirror right now, he was certain that the entire side of his face would be burning red from the man's large hand. His heart started pounding as he responded to the demand, but he was met with hardened brown eyes and knew he was in trouble. _

_He took a step back, but Tate reached out and grabbed his arm to pull him in closer, digging his fingers into the flesh hard enough to leave bruises. Having been there for only three weeks, Chris had seen enough to know what was going to come next as a result of his simple act of defiance. Tate would pummel him into the ground until Mrs. Tate finally dragged him off. _

_Chris hoped that if his mother was watching him, that she would understand, because he refused to be the next one to land in the hospital with some broken bone or other. He yanked his arm back, at the same time, flicking his wrist almost unnoticeably to throw the man back telekinetically. _

_The other kids gasped as Tate fell backwards, landing hard on the floor and disoriented for a moment. When he shook himself off, his eyes blazed with fury and he scavenged around like a mad dog. "Where's my belt?" he demanded of the others. No one answered, but he shoved them aside and spotted it in its usual place on the hook, the strap of black leather clearly worn out from overuse. Snatching it down, he spun around menacingly. _

"_Run Chris!" one of the older ones prodded him._

_And he did. _

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"So I ran until I was out of his sight. Then I orbed back to the manor. I didn't stay long because I knew they'd be looking for me. It's not like they were going to believe me any way—not at first." He added with a disgusted look, "Thomas Tate was a perfect saint for taking in all of us poor little orphans. At least, whenever he wasn't beating the crap out of one of them. Oh but no matter, they were all _sports injuries_."

Wyatt stared at him in disbelief before his eyes darkened in anger. "You never told me he hit you."

Chris laughed at his brother's overprotective reaction, "Oh that's right, you're the only one allowed to kick my—" his laughter trailed into a cough at the glare he received. "Anyway, why would I do that? So that you could go back and fry him with an energy ball? You'd end up in jail and I'd end up in some other foster home—permanently. Besides, how do you think it was so easy to convince the judge to let me stay with you after you turned 18? The others got the same idea to run after I did. With all of them coming forward, the judge didn't want to ruin his career by letting anyone know he put most of us there. He was ready to give us just about anything we wanted by that point."

"So when you suddenly showed up practically in tears at the group home? That was the same day?"

"Yeah, I guess it was."

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_Wyatt sat alone leaning up against a tree on the edges of the courtyard, ignoring the other teens as they played basketball a few feet away from him. He turned down their offer to join them every day for two weeks until they had finally stopped asking. He preferred to be alone with his thoughts, hoping that they would pass the time quickly until he would be of age._

_He hated himself for backing down at his brother's request. He shouldn't have let them take either of them. Now he couldn't help thinking that if they knew who he was—the Twice Blessed Witch, Son of a Charmed One and a Whitelighter, the heir to the throne of Excalibur, they wouldn't have even thought of doing something like this to him. But they thought he was just some powerless kid who lost his family and now had to rely on others to care for him. If they only knew what he could do. What he was capable of. They wouldn't try to dictate to him where he should go, who he should live with, or who he in turn could care for. _

_He flexed his hands as the anger built inside of him. If they thought they were going to—" his head suddenly shot up, sensing a familiar presence that had been lacking for nearly a month. He looked around for the boy, not seeing him anywhere, but knowing that he was near by. _

_Wyatt heard a rustling in the bushes and turned in that direction. He saw the piercing sage-green eyes hiding behind the leaves in an attempt to blend in. _

_Cautious of any other watchful eyes, he crept over to the bush and ducked behind it quickly. "Chris, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly. _

"_I want to go home, Wyatt," the teenager said as he paced and fidgeted anxiously. _

"_Just one more week, Chris. I promise. My birthday is next week. I'll be 18 and they can't stop me from coming to get you."_

_He shook his head wildly, "I'm not going back. Please, I don't want to go back."_

"_It's ok. I'll hide you out here or something. I'll never make you do anything you don't want to do." _

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"Do you remember when you said that?" Chris asked, hoping to have found a loophole in one of their many verbal contracts.

Wyatt grinned slightly, knowing where his brother was headed with his questioning. But he hadn't found a way out of it yet. "Yes. But that's why we're here now. I've always given you a choice. You see, I'm a man of my word, Chris. At least with you. Since you did so well at quoting me earlier, I'll return the favor with one of yours—_the ball is in your court_."

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews. They really keep me going—and ignoring my homework:)

AN: In case you were wondering, this chapter was one of the pivotal moments that influenced Wyatt's power trip.


	11. Of All the People11

Of All the People

Chapter 11

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: During their 7 day countdown and nothing else to do, Wyatt & Chris are actually talking and remembering these events from 2018, which played a large part in both of their personalities down the line.

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_At the manor…2004, day three._

"…future child of mine,

I call to you,

Through my blood that courses your veins,

With this bond,

I summon you near,

Come to rest and settle here."

Piper waited patiently while the blood from her hand dripped into the pot. Her eyes glistened hopefully as they searched the room for any indication that the spell she had just cast was going to work.

The empath watched as her sister's hopeful demeanor was quickly replaced by despair. She placed her pen down and crossed the room, wrapped the older woman in her arms protectively and removed the knife from her hands. "Honey, maybe you can't summon him that way because he hasn't been born yet. So technically, _there is _no blood connection yet. You can't keep doing this to yourself."

Piper shrugged out of her grasp and picked up the athame again, all the while shaking it at her sister before pointing it in the direction of the table. "I don't care, Phoebe. So what if this one didn't work, something is bound to. I'm not giving up and neither are you. Now go back over there and keep writing. As soon as Paige gets back with Leo from the underworld, we'll try one of your other spells again. How many do you have so far?"

Phoebe ran her fingers through her short hair as she drifted over to the old desk. She picked up the scattered pages and counted them. "Eight," she said tiredly.

Piper gave her a stern look, "That's it? Well we'll go through those pretty quickly. You need to—"

The younger woman cut her off irritably, not wanting to hear another lecture about writing until her fingers fell off. She knew she was reaching, but she needed a distraction to get the woman off her back for a while. "Don't you need to go and feed Wyatt or something? I think I hear him crying."

She opened her mouth to speak, but then pursed her lips as she cocked her head to the side and listened for her baby. She walked closer to the baby monitor and her shoulders drooped a bit hearing him stir. He would be wide awake in only a few short minutes demanding her attention, giving her less time to concentrate on finding his little brother. "Damn. I'll be back in a little bit. Maybe I'll just bring the playpen up here."

"You said you didn't want to do that. Remember, you and Leo talked about not wanting to expose the baby version to anything else negative because he's apparently already screwed up enough?"

Piper turned away angrily, "You don't have to remind me, Phoebe. I know very well how much of a terrible mother I must be if Wyatt could turn out to be so evil."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it. Something happened to Wyatt, that we obviously had no control over—it couldn't have been something you did or didn't do. Chris wouldn't have come back so far into the past to save him otherwise. If he thought it was something you did wrong as a parent, he would have been trying to give you parenting skills the whole time he's been here, not trying to get us to vanquish every conceivable threat to his brother. So you need to stop beating yourself up over this. We'll fix things. Wyatt is not going to turn out that way—we'll save him."

"Well we can't do that until we get his brother back and find out when the littlest Halliwell is supposed to make an official appearance." Piper suddenly looked up, her features wrought with worry. "When I saw them together, even though they don't look anything alike, Wyatt didn't look that much older than him."

The empath agreed, "Yeah, I'm guessing they're not more than three years apart—four tops."

"What if Leo and I aren't back together in time?"

Phoebe shook her head confidently, "Honey, that's not going to happen. Chris was obviously meant to be born, otherwise, he couldn't have come back from the future." She winked at her sister, "If you're not sure, you and Leo will just have to get together every month when you're—how should I say this, uh—fertile? And then you guys you know—for the next two to three years. It's bound to happen. The bonus is, you'll be a _much _happier woman," she dipped her head conspiratorially but then suddenly had a thought, "Oh, what about this month?"

Piper shook her head dismissively as she headed downstairs to check on her toddler, "No, no. I'm already past that. I'm sure of it."

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_Mausoleum…2004, day three._

"We never would have had to go through any of that if you had just let me do what needed to be done from the beginning," Wyatt admonished.

Chris only grinned at him, "Oh, come on. You liked all that cloak and dagger stuff. I could tell…"

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_Bryson Home for Boys…2018_

_Wyatt wished that one of them had inherited their mother's power of freezing, because then, that would make sneaking Chris into the house much easier. _

_Hearing footsteps approach, they ducked into a closet to avoid being seen. Wyatt shook his head, wondering for possibly the hundredth time, why he was following (in the loosest sense of the word) the laws and rules of these ordinary mortals. He glanced over at his brother, who had finally calmed down and he wondered no more. Chris had asked him to, and the boy had an influence over him that he didn't think he'd ever be able to explain._

_They could have just orbed or cast a spell so that no one would notice, but Chris was dead-set against it for fear of a backlash from those damned Elder's and their obsession with 'personal gain'. _

_They stayed in the cramped closet for a good hour before they no longer sensed anyone's presence in or around Wyatt's new bedroom._

_Chris had started to push the door open, but Wyatt gabbed his hand back and frowned at the boy. 'Now he's going too far,' he sulked. He shook his head at the absurdity of trying to walk into the room, then touched his shoulder and orbed them directly into the room he shared with another boy his age named Ryan._

_He opened up the closest and pulled an extra pillow off the shelf before he tossed it to the floor of the cubicle. _

_Chris stared at him in disbelief, "You want me to sleep in the closet?"_

_His brother grinned at the reaction and teased him lightly. "Why not, it's big enough for a little runt like you. It's a good thing you take after mom. I bet you could even stretch out in there." When the younger of the two crossed his arms and glared at him pointedly, practically having to stand on his toes to make the look even mildly threatening, Wyatt offered a slight bit of encouragement. "Don't worry, you're only sixteen. It's not too late for you to have a growth spurt pretty soon—I bet you will." _

_Even as Wyatt said it, he wondered if it were true. While he had inherited the physical stature and appearance of their absentee father, his brother had inherited everything from their mother's side. From his looks, to her slight build, even to a variation on her powers. _

_Unfortunately for Chris, that fact had usually caused him problems throughout most of his teen years. He was always the smallest boy on any team, and often found himself being picked on by most of the other boys his age because of it. Though no one ever got away with that when Wyatt was around. _

_With the older Halliwell currently being close to six-feet tall—and still growing—with an increasingly stocky build, it was a rare occurrence to find anyone willing to go up against him. He could be intimating if he chose, and he liked that fact. It suited him—the heir to the throne of Excalibur. _

_He stared at the dark-haired teen pensively for a moment. Maybe he could do a spell to ensure that the boy filled out and garnered a bit more height, he mused. _

_Wyatt quickly discarded those thoughts to address the matter at hand, "Now get in. You'll be fine. Besides, my roommate hides his girlfriend in here all the time, so I know there's plenty of room."_

_Chris shrugged in silent agreement before he perked his head up, "Someone's coming!"_

"_I know," he said while shoving him in._

_His roommate burst in the door just after Wyatt shut it and sat down on his bed. He nodded at the giggling couple. "Ryan, Brittany." _

_Ryan greeted him a slight smirk and nod of his own. "Brittany's staying over tonight," he informed with an air of confidence, expecting acceptance with Wyatt's usual complacent nod. _

"_Not tonight," Wyatt said simply, a hint of smile gracing his features at the shocked look on the other boy's face. _

"_Why not? You've never minded before?" His over-moussed dark and curly hair moved stiffly as he shook his head, trying to gauge the blonde's suspicious behavior. Hazel eyes darted to the closet and he smirked knowingly. "Unless—ohh. Currently occupied?"_

_Wyatt gave the barest hint of a smile, hearing the unspoken words of appreciation and admiration from the other boy, but refused to rise to the bait and give any indication of whether his guess of an assumed female companion was accurate or not. He leaned back and began absently flipping through a magazine, thinking the subject closed when the coupled turned to leave. _

_Ryan couldn't contain his curiosity and dipped back to yank open the door. His mouth fell open in shock at not having found what he expected. Glancing at Wyatt, he stammered apologetically. "Oh. Sorry man. I didn't know you were into that kind of thing. But he's kind of young though, don't you think?"_

_Wyatt rolled his eyes languidly as he rose to help his brother out, "He's sixteen—and why is that the first thing everyone thinks of? Is there some law that I missed that says that people have to look like one another in order to be brothers?"_

_Ryan let out an understanding sigh. "Oh, ok. So why are you hiding your brother in the closet?"_

"_Because I'm not sending him back there."_

_Chris eased himself in front of his brother, hearing the sudden forceful tone to his voice. He didn't want to be any trouble and thought that Wyatt's posturing may have put the young man on the defensive. "Hi, I'm Chris. I'm sorry about all this—but please don't say anything. I just can't go back there."_

"_Go back where? Hey, if you guys are brothers, then I wonder why they didn't put you in the same place?" he asked._

"_I don't know. I thought it was because Wyatt was close to being an adult and I wasn't. So they put me in with some guy named Tate."_

_Ryan covered his mouth sadly while his girlfriend blanched a bit, "Aw man…"_

"_Thomas Tate?" she asked. _

"_Yeah, do you know him?"_

_She scoffed, "I think everybody who's been in the foster system here knows of him. Mrs. Tate is kind of nice, but Tate is a real piece of work. You were smart to run away from there. You know, before…"_

_Wyatt didn't like where the conversation was going. He crossed his arms and shot his brother the same stern look their mother always gave to make one of them squirm. "Before what?"_

_Chris tucked his hair behind his ear and shifted nervously under the withering glare. _

_Ryan answered for him, "I've heard of that dude. I had a friend that went there for a couple of weeks once before he got adopted. He said just about every kid that's ever been there has gotten some broken bone or another by Tate. Some even worse. Now I know why they split you two up."_

_Wyatt's anger was quickly building again. The very idea that someone had intentionally set out to cause them more grief than had already befallen them was inexcusable. His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why?"_

_Ryan ignored the icy glare he received from his roommate, simply glad that it wasn't actually directed at him. He glanced at the smaller boy and ticked off his fingers, "Because every kid that goes there fits a certain mold—an orphan, under five-feet-five, on the skinny side, and most importantly, looks like they've never been in a fight a day in their life. And no offense or anything, but you fit that—Wyatt doesn't. Tate probably thinks the little one's won't fight back." _

_Wyatt spun around, his face a mixture of anger and worry. "Chris…" he warned, demanding an explanation._

_Chris was nervous. He knew how protective his brother could be of him at times, and he knew that if he mentioned the events from earlier that day, Wyatt would do something rash. Probably getting them both into trouble and causing their separation to be a lot longer than they had planned. Though it was the first he had ever told him, the partial lie rolled easily off his tongue. "Nothing happened, Wy. But I saw him rough up a couple of others and I didn't want to stick around in case he got bored with his regulars." He turned to the couple and asked hopefully, "So can I stay here until Wyatt and I move out next week?"_

"_Next week?" Ryan asked the older boy asked incredulously. "You think just because you're turning 18 that they're just going to let you do as you please? That they'll let you be his guardian? Sorry man, but it just doesn't work that way. They don't care about any of us. Brittany's older sister is 21—fully legal in every state—and no matter how hard she tries, or how many lawyers she finds, they still won't let her get her little sister out of the foster system. Brit's just gonna' have to wait until she's old enough to get kicked out on her own. We all will. Once you're in, you're in." _

_Wyatt listened to the young man with dread and he believed him. The way that the judge had completely disregarded his worthiness of being responsible for Chris should have been enough to prove that to him. No one else but Chris had ever been on his side, so why should they start now. He closed his eyes to avoid the look of fear and panic that he knew was beginning to set in the familiar green eyes. _

_Breathing in deeply, he opened his crystal blue eyes again to meet those of his brother. He squared his shoulders firmly in determination as he sought to settle the panic, "Not if I can help it."_

TBC…

AN: I decided to catch up and say thank you to everyone who has reviewed since I last said thanks, because they mean so much to me. But I decided not to respond to each individual comment--unless of course you ask a specific question & I will email you back-- (because I still managed to mess it up last time), and I just couldn't think of anything original to say other than A THOUSAND THANK-YOU'S, so please forgive me and accept this as my humblest apologies. I thought this was a little safer. And lots of hugs to all of you wonderful people for taking the time to let me know what you think of the story:) I hope you still enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it.

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	12. Of All the People12

Of All the People

Chapter 12

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: I mentioned that we're currently in 2004 for the present day scenes, but I forgot that Chris was conceived in 2003, & born in 2004, so sorry for any confusion.

I've kind of skipped over the events of days 4 & 5, because I think you get the picture of what's happening in the background. Wyatt & Chris are talking-amiably, eating, sleeping, etc.—I may go into that later with more flashbacks, but we'll see. Leo and the Charmed Ones are still going nuts trying to find them. So let's just settle on day 6.

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_At the manor…Day 6…August 26, 2003_

The Charmed sisters looked exhausted. Paige was slumped over the table, the crystal barely dangling millimeters above the map.

Phoebe leaned back into the couch, a pen and steno pad in her hand, crumpling up wads of paper when she either didn't like or the latest spell failed. The wastebasket that sat by her feet had already been emptied for the fourth time this particular day.

Piper sat in a chair leaning over a cauldron while she tied to find yet another place on her hand to draw blood. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and lack of sleep for nearly a week.

Leo was currently in the underworld again trying to sense for their missing youngest Halliwell. He orbed into the attic, his shoulders hunched over in despair as he wiped the beads of sweat from his brow. He was covered in black soot from the many vanquishings he had doled out to uncooperative demons. "No one's seen them," he mumbled to no one in particular.

Phoebe finally dropped her pen, unable to stare at the black letters that seemed to run together any longer. "I need sleep!" she declared fitfully. "I can't focus any more. We all need sleep."

Piper whipped her head around, "NO! We have to find him first. He's in danger and he needs our help!"

The empath threw her head back exhaustedly, "Piper, it's been practically _a week _since Wyatt took him."

Her nostrils flared angrily, "I can count Phoebe, thank you very much. What's your point!"

Phoebe's eyes fell to her other sister and brother-in-law as they suddenly watched her with interest trying to spar with the fretful mother. Piper had been relentless in the pursuit of her son, and had drove them harder than ever before. She seemed to think that her refusal to give up, even for just a moment, would somehow erase the past months of mistreatment toward her son.

Trying not to loose her patience with her oldest sister, Phoebe softened her tone a bit. "My point is that between the 4 of us, not one of us has had more than 4 hours sleep in any 24 hour period for 6 days straight. We can't even function at our best anymore, so how are we supposed to find him like this?"

Piper's chocolate brown eyes blazed with a mixture of determination and fury. "I'm not leaving him out there," she gritted out.

"Maybe there's nothing to leave. Maybe—"

"NO! I told you before, he's not dead!"

Phoebe bristled defensively, "That's not what I meant. What I did mean is that maybe Wyatt took him back to the future, and we're just pulling our hair out for nothing."

"How dare you call this nothing—"

"Piper, listen to reason, please. I can see no reason why three Charmed Ones can't scry for him; can't summon him; and can't even get a sense that he ever even existed. Not even a Power of Three spell that never fails has worked in this case. And there is no reason why an Elder shouldn't be able to sense them—or at least Chris, if they were anywhere in this time. And Leo has been down in the underworld almost non-stop for the past 5 days. Even if he and Paige couldn't find him, they would still be able to at least sense him. But there is nothing! Everything has led to a dead end."

Piper wanted to deny her sister's words, but the truth was, that she had silently questioned the same thing as they ran out of options. She turned to her husband hopefully, "Well maybe we're going about this the wrong way? Can you sense Wyatt instead?"

Leo shook his head sadly, "I couldn't even sense Wyatt when he was standing next to me."

"But you can sense darklighters?"

Anger and frustration at the lack of results had taken its toll on the Elder as well, and he shouted back at his former wife. "But I can't sense a whitelighter who has turned his back on everything that makes him one!"

He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed softly as he watched his words cause the tears to well up in her eyes again. She turned away from him as she swiped at the them forcefully. He spun her around gently and wrapped his arms around her as a peace offering. "I'm sorry, Piper. I didn't mean to lash out at you. It's all so frustrating. But no, I can't sense adult Wyatt—only the baby. I think Phoebe may be partly right—we're all on edge because we haven't had any luck or a break in a week." He pried the knife from her fingers and began leading her out of the room, "Just a short break—we'll find him. I promise. I'm not giving up either…"

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_Mausoleum…Day 6…August 26, 2003_

Chris was starting to get nervous now that his time was quickly running out. They were now on speaking terms at least, something that had been absent between them for several years now.

It was clear that he had been tearing away Wyatt's roughened exterior, but he wasn't sure if it was enough. There were times during the past several days when his brother would look on him fondly with a hint of a smile, and he believed it was. But then moments later, the blue eyes would harden inexplicably and darken his features with a stony mask.

He surveyed the dimly lit room again, wondering on possible escape routes. _But then, how would he immobilize his brother, _he wondered. But every time he tried to focus, a tiny voice in the back of his mind taunted him with an important fact that was just out of his reach.

Since their little reunion during the past days, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he was missing something. He hadn't noticed it when Wyatt had been in the future, but now that they sat mere feet away, it remained in the deep recesses of his thoughts, demanding his attention until he brought it forth.

He closed his eyes, replaying many of the rare conversations with his brother since he took his reign. None had sparked any concern, and he had purposely skidded over the events of his trip back to the future because of the pain it inevitably brought along. But time was short, and that nagging feeling was only growing stronger with each passing moment. He decided to replay those painful events.

Chris had been far too angry and defensive at the time to even hear it, but now that it existed in only a memory, he could replay them clearly.

"_Et tu, Chris? Of all the people to betray me." _

_That had to be it_, his mind screamed at him. But why would they be so important? What was it--the words; the surprise in his voice even though he tried to hide it. Or maybe it was both. Could it be the answer he had been searching for all along? That his brother had unintentionally revealed more in those two short sentences than he had ever hoped to find on his own?

He held his breath before exhaling deeply, determined to satisfy his curiosity before anything else could be accomplished. "I want to ask you something, and I want you to answer truthfully. I think you owe me that much."

Wyatt nodded for him to go ahead.

"When I got back to the future, you said, _'et tu?'_ But you sounded surprised."

He admitted sadly, "You're the last person I expected to betray me."

"And I didn't. But you're never going to believe me, so I think we're past that. And I know for a fact that you've never cared about what any of your minions think about you, just so long as they do as you say. And I'm not naïve enough to think that you held Bianca in any other category."

The blonde cocked his head, his expression a mixture of annoyance and amusement. "Is there a question in there somewhere?"

"So who else?"

The older man seemed genuinely confused. "Who else what?"

"Who else betrayed you that you didn't expect?" The question apparently startled the Twice-Blessed-Witch, causing his slightly relaxed features to shift into a tight-lipped scowl. His body tensed and gave every indication that he understood the question, and was quite aware of the answer.

Chris's voice raised in surprise, "That's it, isn't it? You know who it is—or what it is, don't you?"

Wyatt shrugged impassively, "I don't know who or what you're referring to."

"Yes you do!" Chris accused vehemently. "The reason I came back here. You know what did it! What turned you!"

"I have not _turned, Christopher, _because that would require me to choose a side, either good or evil. But since they do not exist, neither does the concept of me choosing one or the other."

Chris jumped up angrily and stalked over to tower over the elder witch, currently still sitting calmly against the wall. "Damn it! Stop with the semantics. You knew! All this time." He kicked at his foot, his anger blinding him to the danger of picking a fight without his powers against the Twice-Blessed-Witch. "DIDN'T YOU!" His foot struck out again.

"Why would I help you to force me into one of those vague concepts that I don't even believe in?" Wyatt gritted out before clenching his teeth, silently fuming. One more kick and he knew he was going to loose it. _Damn!_ That last one hit his shin and that even hurt a little. He moved to get up, but while he was crouched down, Chris gave a hard shove and pounced, landing several well placed hits.

He was tempted to throw an energy ball, but the lack of a healer present would make it extremely inconvenient should he loose control and let his temper guide him. Instead, Wyatt threw his own punch but glanced up, only mildly surprised as his brother blocked it and anticipated every move. There were after all, _some drawbacks _to fighting your life-long sparring partner. Of course, they hadn't brawled like that since the last time when there had been someone around to separate them. Piper had been the last.

Chris grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him up, only to shove him back down hard against the dusty floor. "DAMN YOU! None of this had to happen! She didn't have to die. None of it."

As soon as Chris seemed to run out of steam, Wyatt concentrated a small bit of his telekinetic energy into his palm before he flattened them across his brother's chest. The impact threw him off and sent him skidding across the floor.

The younger Halliwell wasted no time in rising to his feet, circling his brother with a matching fighting stance.

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews.


	13. Of All the People13

See AN at end...

Of All the People

Chapter 13

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

Day 6, which you'll see by this chapter is a very important day:)

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**_Mausoleum…Day 6…August 26, 2003 _**

They glared at each other, both waiting for the other to strike.

Chris charged at him at a slight angle, knowing full well that Wyatt would attempt to throw him. When they collided, Wyatt did just that, but Chris used the momentum to lock onto his arm and pulled him down with him. They both landed on the hard stone floor, grunting painfully.

Chris recovered quicker because he had softened the blow of his impact with Wyatt's body, who now moved a fraction of section slower from the stun. But that was all the time he needed. Chris was always better in the hand-to-hand category since he was forced to use skill and cunning to get the best of his brother, whereas Wyatt relied on his overpowering size to best him.

Laying side-by-side, he spotted an opening when Wyatt raised his arms to grab for his throat. He bent his elbow and shoved one of the most solid parts of the human body directly into a pressure point midway between his brother's armpit and waist.

Wyatt cursed loudly from the pain that shot through his body, and he rolled away from the younger man. He threw his shield up to block him out and saw him dart to his feet while he rose unsteadily to his own. He lowered it again a moment after his breathing returned to normal.

He took note of the predatory look in his brother's eyes and watched him inching closer with each passing second. The brunette was looking for another weak spot and an opening, just like he had taught him. Blue eyes stared on warily, because he knew his opponent well enough to know that he would find it and use it as an advantage against him. Oddly enough, Wyatt felt a bit of pride that he hadn't strayed too far from everything he forced him to learn. After that wild and frenzied attack he had displayed in the future, which had been doomed from the start, he thought that Chris's skills (and sense) had taken leave of the young man. _Apparently, they only came out when he was extremely angry_, he thought with mild amusement.

With Chris's powers on hold from the potion, he could easily end this now before it even began. An energy ball here and there. The squeezing of his fist. The flicking of his wrist. Any of those things would put an end to this senseless fighting, but he knew well enough to know that Chris's anger had pushed him to the brink, more so than Bianca's death. The determination that had glazed over the green eyes had told him that he wouldn't stop until he forced him to do what he couldn't so far. Wyatt would have to kill him with his own hands.

He couldn't do it. Not now, and not ever. He would just have to put his powers on hold as well and do this the old-fashioned way. He grinned slightly, seeking out the other's weaknesses. If Chris wanted a fight, he was going to get one. "I was right," he taunted, "You _have _lost your mind."

"Maybe. If I have, _its all thanks to you_," Chris growled back. For his part, he believed he knew what he was doing. Wyatt would not use his powers against him because of the risk they carried, and he now knew that his brother couldn't consciously kill him directly. He was hoping to bait him into telling what he knew since Wyatt often revealed things in the heat of the moment when his temper got the best of him. Maybe he could still get out of this alive, with the information he needed. But he only had two days left to get it, so it was time to start pushing. This would only work if he was ultimately able to get the upper hand and knock him out.

"Then I suppose you have a lot to be thankful to me for, you _little _ingrate. The operative word being, _little_."

Chris knew that Wyatt was baiting him exactly the way he had intended to do, but found that he was unable to stop himself from asking suspiciously, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Wyatt grinned arrogantly, deciding to divulge only the partial truth. "_I mean_, that if I hadn't done that growth spell on you years ago, Aunt Paige would still be towering over you." In actuality, he had only sped up the process, but Chris didn't need to know that.

"You're lying. My growth spurt had _nothing _to do with you. Any spell like that wouldn't have worked because of personal gain."

He scoffed confidently, "Personal gain has never affected me. That's just some superstitious nonsense that the Elders inflict on feeble minds. Then you trip your own self up by casting spells while you're so worried about the consequences in the background. No spell can work properly with that attitude. Which is why mine always do. _Runt_."

Chris bristled at the nickname that had been such a sore spot for him growing up. Coming from his brother, it was only acceptable when used affectionately when they were joking with each other. When they were not, his brother merely used it to piss him off. This was obviously one of those latter times. But two could play at that. His eyes narrowed before his lips curled up into a smug grin. "Well then, I suppose you should be thanking me as well. I'm helping you keep your score in tact. After all, if everyone else betrays you, who am I to break your perfect record?"

Chris saw the blue eyes flash with anger before he was thrown into the wall with the telekinetic force. Before he could rise, Wyatt stalked over and pulled him up. "See now, that's cheating." He watched as the comment infuriated the elder witch further and felt the grip on his collar tighten. Smirking, he taunted again, "So what was it? Mom, Grandpa, and the Aunts for dying on us? Dad for bailing on us? The Elders for leaving us all alone? Oh wait, I know. It was a girlfriend, right? Did she break your heart? What little there is left of it…"

"You know NOTHING!" Wyatt yelled as he threw a fist, aiming straight for Chris midsection. He hissed in pain as his knuckles slammed into the wall behind him.

Blanching, Chris started to shake as both of his hands grabbed at the heavily muscled arm, now firmly planted straight through his stomach.

They both stared down in shock as Wyatt pulled back slowly, his hand passing through the transparent flesh.

Tears welled up in his eyes, but Chris tried to cover up the panic in them and the wavering in his voice with a joke. He didn't even realize that he was still gripping Wyatt's arm. "Wy? You've never been good at math, huh. Next year, 2004. It's a leap year isn't it? That makes it one day earlier that I have to be—"

Wyatt finished his sentence absently, "conceived."

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews.

AN: Yes, I know this was an evil ending to a chapter:), but I promise to give you a resolution in ch 14. Sorry to anyone who's already read this, but I forgot the AN when I uploaded the 1st time. You'll get the answer to most of your questions--will he or won't he? Oh come on, it's not a real cliffhanger--you know the answer to that. Right? ;)


	14. Of All the People14

Of All the People

Chapter 14

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: As promised, a resolution to my evil cliffie. Wyatt comes to a decision. Finally:)

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_Mausoleum…Day 6…August 26, 2003_

Wyatt was stunned as he pulled back his hand slowly. He couldn't believe that he had made such a major miscalculation. He had never done that in all of his time as ruler, and yet, here he stood in shock because he had failed to take such a small fact like leap year into account, but obviously an important fact. And because of that error, tonight was _it_. Chris was already fading.

He took a deep breath and tested the transparency again. He poked his fingers into what had been only moments ago, solid flesh, but now allowed his hands to pass straight through. "Can you breath?" he asked him softly.

Chris's response was barely audible. "For now…"

Wyatt nodded and turned away. He knew it would come eventually, but it wasn't just some abstract concept like good and evil—this was real. His brother was going to die tonight. And for the first time, that fact hit him like a ton of bricks, leaving him speechless. He avoided the look of sadness and betrayal in the watery green eyes that sought his own.

When he made his decision a week ago, he knew it was going to be difficult to let it happen and tried to prepare himself for the moment when it did. After all, they had been through so much together.

But he had never expected to feel a physical pain in his chest like he did now.

At first, he had mostly even convinced himself that with Chris's lack of existence, he wouldn't even know the difference. But now, he wasn't so sure that Chris wasn't correct and that his subconscious would always feel his absence, even if he didn't know what it was from.

A soft spoken voice broke through his fog, the humorous tone doing little to hide the slight tremors within it. "It's been nice knowing you. Well, most of the time."

The blonde stared at an empty spot on the wall, his vision replaying for him one of the many times he had heard that phrase as a child.

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_The ten year old blonde stared at the spot where his mother's favorite antique clock stood, now currently splintered into a mass of pieces courtesy of his rough housing._

_She had threatened him dearly if he broke one more thing in the house that week, and he panicked. Even more so when his brother walked up and clapped him on the back, "It's been nice knowing you. Well, most of the time. Mom's gonna' kill you. Can I have your room?" the mop of dark headed hair bounced excitedly before he noticed the look of terror in his brother's eyes. "Don't worry, Wy. I was only kidding—mom's not going to kill you." _

_The older boy was close to tears, "She might. Or she's going to bind my powers like she said last time. Then the demons will get me and I'll still get killed!"_

_The younger boy tried to comfort him, "I won't let that happen, Wy."_

"_But—" his eyes widened even further as he sensed her presence, "she's coming."_

"_I heard something break down there! That had better not be my antique clock. I've already put a ward on it so that demons can't break it." When Piper reached the bottom of the stairs, she sighed with disappointment as she saw her favorite collectible in pieces. She had a good idea who was behind it since he seemed to have a habit of breaking only the few items she valued. It was almost as though he sought them out for destruction. The Charmed One spun around to face her oldest child. "WYATT MATTHEW HALLIWELL. What did I tell you not even TWO days ago!"_

_Chris stepped forward, a picture of innocence. "I'm sorry, Mom. I was playing and it was an accident. I didn't mean to do it. When I grow up, I promise to buy you a new one." He beamed brightly. _

"_You did this, Christopher?"_

"_Yes. I'm sorry, Mom."_

_Piper looked at the wide green eyes and the small pout of his lips and crossed her arms suspiciously. She tried to figure out what the two were up to, but gave up after a few moments, deciding that she didn't care. "Ok, Chris. Since this is only your second warning, you're only grounded for one week. That means no TV, no holo games, no going out to play with your brother or your friends, and no orbing. Got it?"_

_He stared at her and asked incredulously, "For A Whole Week!"_

"_Wanna' try for two?" she dared him with her hands on her hips. _

_He bit his lip to avoid any retort that would surely earn him more punishment. _

"_Wyatt?" she said._

_He looked up nervously, still convinced that she would find out. "Yes Mom?"_

"_Help him clean up this mess, please? Then the two of you go upstairs and finish your homework before dinner." _

_As soon as she left, Wyatt stared at the younger boy in wonder. "Why did you do that?"_

"_Thank you would be nice."_

"_Thank you. Now why did you do that?"_

"_Because we're brothers, Wy. We have to stick together, no matter what. There's me and you, and then there's them."_

"_Them?"_

"_Everyone else, dork," Chris shoved him playfully and answered plainly as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. _

_A slow smile spread across Wyatt's face before he nodded in appreciation. "Yeah. I like that. Me and you."_

_Green eyes sparkled with mischief as he pointed to himself and clarified, "NO. _ME _and _you_," he said enjoying teasing his older brother by emphasizing his own importance in the relationship._

"_No. It's _ME _and _then you_. I'm older," Wyatt shoved him back before they ran around the room tagging each other and laughing. _

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At the mausoleum, Wyatt blinked and was hit by several more flashbacks in rapid succession.

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_The sixteen-year-old dived for the ball his younger brother had just kicked and aimed for the goal post. He missed it, only to the delight of the brown-haired teen that was currently doing a victory dance. He laid down exhaustedly and had to laugh at the boy's actions as he jumped up and down grinning widely at his defeat. "I let you win, Chris."_

"_You wish. Admit it, Wy. I'm just your superior in a lot of things. Soccer being one of them," the younger witch gloated happily. _

"_Never. Let's go again. There's no way you'll score this time if I'm really trying." His grin faded as he sensed a familiar but unwelcome presence. They were finally just starting to enjoy themselves after loosing their mother the year before. And now he shows up after not being around for far too long. 'What's he want now?' _

"_Hello Boys, blessed be. You know, your Aunt Phoebe was wondering where you two had run off to."_

_Wyatt crossed his arms in front of him defensively as he stood up. "She knows how to find us if she wants us to come home. What are you doing here, dad?"_

_Leo stiffened his shoulders, smiling to try and ignore the unfriendly tone in his elder son's voice. "I was looking for you. I want you to come with me."_

"_For what?" he asked suspiciously. _

"_To stay."_

_Chris moved in closer, smiling in anticipation. Maybe their father had finally realized where his priorities lie and decided to take care of his remaining family. "To live with you?"_

_The Elder answered simply, not quite understanding his youngest son's meaning while he addressed Wyatt. "Yes. You need to train in the use of your powers. You have a unique destiny, Wyatt. As heir to the throne of Excalibur, someone needs to show you how to use it. We had thought that your mother was going to do that, but—well, things change. That's why you need to come with me."_

_Wyatt jutted his chin out defiantly, not quite ready to give in so easily, "Well, what if we don't want to go? Aunt Phoebe is doing just fine taking care of us, and she'll teach us everything we need to know about being witches."_

_Chris elbowed him aside eagerly, "No, ignore him, Dad. We want to go with you, really."_

_Leo stammered nervously at the misunderstanding. Finally, he laid a hand gently on Chris's shoulder, "Uh, um. I'm sorry, son. I didn't—I mean, right now, I can only take Wyatt because of his destiny with Excalibur and being Twice Blessed. It's just that the other Elders--" _

"_Oh."_

_Seeing the crestfallen look on the brunette's face made him backpedal quickly, "Chris, it doesn't mean I don't _want _to take you or that I don't love you too, because you know I do, but—"_

_He tried to shrug indifferently, "It's ok. I was only kidding. I don't really want to leave Aunt Phoebe, anyway." He turned and pointed in the direction of the manor, "I think I hear her calling me."_

_The blonde watched his little brother hurry away and try to pretend like he wasn't hurt by his father's insensitive actions. He whirled around to face the man, practically emitting a low growl. "If you can't remember you have TWO sons, then just forget you have ANY, Leo!" _

_He brushed into the man with his shoulder, practically knocking him over as he left and sprinted after the younger boy. "Chris, wait up!"_

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_One year later…_

_Two young boys stood side by side, dressed alike in their dark suits for the third time in less than three years. They watched with tear filled eyes as the last of the mourners filed out of the small chapel. _

"_What are we gonna do, Wy? First mom, then Aunt Phoebe, and now Grandpa. We're all alone now. Who's gonna' take care of us?"_

_Wyatt steeled his gaze as he slung his arm around the smaller boy, "I will. I'll take care of us, Chris. I promise. We don't need anybody else. We're brothers. It's just me and you, remember? That's all that matters."_

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Wyatt heard his own voice echoing in his head, _'all that matters…'_

Chris looked at him curiously, "What's all that matters?"

The elder witch spun around with a startled expression. "What?"

"You were mumbling repeatedly, '_All that matters.'_"

His decision made, he answered firmly, "_We're _all that matters."

Chris couldn't help the bitter sarcasm that dripped from his voice, "Since when is there a _we _in this equation? I'm dying, remember?"

Wyatt ignored the question and looked to the vials while he held out his hand, drawing them into his open palm. He held them up and demanded, "Take-the-potion-Christopher!"

"Why should I? I mean, how does it make a difference what I decide now, you're about to become an only child."

Wyatt angrily tossed one of the vials against the wall. He ran his hands through his unruly hair in frustration. "_Why are you being so damn stubborn? Do you want to die?"_

"No. But I would rather not live what little bit of life I have left against everything I've ever believed in. I'm sorry Wyatt. I'm sorry you don't want me in your life. I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I'm even more sorry that I can't save myself. But I can't do it."

Wyatt was quickly running out of options, and that made him feel like a caged animal. He closed his eyes in despair, trying to mentally prepare himself for what he was about to say. "Come back to the future with me. And I'll let you do whatever you want."

The brunette cocked his head in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

"No. Left things out, yes. But outright lie—no."

Wyatt told him impatiently, "Then you have to believe me now. I will turn it over, if that's what you want."

"Turn what over?"

"My empire," the heir to the throne of Excalibur said simply.

Chris's first reaction was to laugh. Until he realized that the crystal blue eyes gazed at him intently, the usual hint of malice gone from them, replaced by a desperation he hadn't seen in nearly a decade. _Was it possible_, he thought, _that the Twice Blessed, power-hungry tyrant, was willing to offer a truce of some sort? _"Wait, you're serious?"

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews.

AN: Ok, so did that answer your question? Now I just have to figure out how Wyatt will get out of this mess he's made. Don't worry, I've already got plans.


	15. Of All the People15

Of All the People

Chapter 15

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG-13, T. Please be warned that this chapter (and the next) may not be suitable for all audiences due to content, which is not graphic—Wyatt is being somewhat bad again. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

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_Manor…Day 6…August 26, 2003 _

Piper allowed her former husband to lead her to their room. She sat down on the bed and Leo bent his legs to do the same. She fussed at him, feeling the need to mother someone since her intended target was no where to be found.

"No no no no—Don't you dare sit down!" she yelled and startled him back up.

"What?"

"You know the rules, you haven't be gone that long. We DO NOT sit on a any furniture in this house when we're covered in demon filth."

He started to apologize but she interrupted him with her angry tirade, "You know better than that! You think that just because you're an Elder, that you can just do whatever you please? _SIT _wherever you want?"

"Piper, I'm sorry, ok? Look, I know you're just upset right now, but yelling about anything and everything isn't going to fix it."

"Then what will?" she asked him exhaustedly. "I have two sons out there that need my help. One to stop him from turning evil, and the other to save him from the one that turns evil! I'm going to be a terrible mother, and this proves it."

"No, you won't Piper. This is going to work out. We'll save both of our sons."

"How do you know that?" she wiped her eyes and sniffled.

His eyes locked with hers, his expression deadly serious. "Because I refuse to accept any other option."

Piper nodded. His eyes held so much promise and determination, that she felt more secure in her own beliefs that just maybe, things would turn out all right for the Halliwell family. "Go take a shower," she said changing the subject while ushering him toward the bathroom.

He dragged his feet, "But, I don't have any clean clothes to change into…"

She stopped abruptly, suddenly reminded of how things had changed between the two of them. They were divorced now, so there was no real reason to have any of things stored in the house. Except that she hadn't been able to let them go. Looking down sadly, she spoke softly, "I have some of your clothes. Now go."

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_Mausoleum…Day 6…August 26, 2003_

Chris looked surprised momentarily, but finally laughed sardonically. "And just what hoop would I have to jump through for you to do that?"

"For starters…"

Chris sighed again as he looked at the vial that Wyatt held in his outstretched hand expectantly. He tapped his chest, "Look at me, Wy? I'm practically invisible. Would me being evil for the last few moments of my life really mean that much to you? Do you just feel the need to control me that badly, that you have to make sure that I'm your servant until the second I die?"

Wyatt's eyes were pleading, "I swear you won't, Christopher. You'll be of your own free will. Whatever that may be."

"Well if it's not going to turn me and it's not evil, then why does it prevent me from using any of my powers that are good."

He threw his hands up in exasperation, "That's the whole point of the potion, Chris. It suppresses all inherent powers to allow you to choose freely, without any preconceived notions of who you are supposed to be."

"Then why can you throw fireballs? That's an evil power…"

"I picked it up from a demon who tried to _borrow _my powers to control Excalibur. I simply turned the tables on him."

Chris seemed to accept the explanation reluctantly, but demanded more information on another item that had been bugging him. "And the shimmering?"

"Some things are inherent to practically all witches and merely lie dormant. If you had ever studied your wiccan history, you would know that shimmering was a power imbedded deep within the soul. If demons were able to travel by shimmering, blinking, or flaming, how do you think witches were meant to get around? There had to be some level playing field, don't you think?"

Wyatt smiled pompously at the flash of doubt that suddenly crept into his brother's features before he continued. "_So-called good _witches avoided the method of transportation for fear of being labeled a witch during the trials. Your _so-called evil _witches simply didn't care, and used it freely, thus branding the power as an evil one. Shimmering is simply what I chose rather than orbing. It's more well received given the abilities of the minions I command."

"Then what was all that talk about it making me more aligned with my family's interests."

"Because I believe I know how you will choose, Chris. What's inside of you. We were always meant to be on the same side. Whatever it may be. Now take it," he said agitatedly as he shoved the vial toward his brother again.

Chris narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "How is taking this potion now going to save me? It's too late for me to be conceived. And even if it weren't, I have no control over whether or not mom and dad—you know."

"I'll take care of that. If you take care of your part…"

"Which is?" he groaned impatiently.

"I will tell you if you stop interrupting me…" Wyatt hissed in frustration through clenched teeth.

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_Sometime later…_

Chris stared at his hand, amazed that he could see straight through while it hovered over his knee. It was frightening to say the least, but it didn't hurt. He just felt weakened. "Are you sure this is going to work?" His brother's lack of response did little to ease his worry. And when he was worried, he tended to babble like his Aunt Phoebe. "I feel so drained, right now. This really may be it, you know. I know it won't hurt or anything. I guess I can tell you this because if it doesn't, then you won't be able to tell anyone that I'm kind of loosing it…but I'm a little scared."

Wyatt stared at him, amazed at how similar he could be at times to certain members of his family. _He's definitely been spending too much time with them. _He ordered the younger man, "Calm down, Christopher. I know, ok? I'll be back soon."

The brunette jumped up and grabbed his arm. "I thought you said you could do it from here? Don't leave, please? I don't want to be alone."

Wyatt silenced him with a stern look. He added to calm him further, "You won't be, trust me. I said _if I needed _to do a spell, I could do it from here. I'll be back before anything happens…But there's just something else I have to do…"

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Wyatt took a deep breath, transforming what little bit of compassion remaining on his features into the stony gaze of the iron-fisted ruler once again. He concentrated for a moment, allowing the essence of his power to reach out to anyone in close proximity. It was a technique that he was quite familiar with. In the future, he would mask that essence in order to lure anyone near that intended to betray him. It always lulled them into to a false sense of security. At least, until he allowed it to wash over them as he did now. They would cower in fear for the remaining brief moments of their lives.

The half-whitelighter strode purposefully into the heaviest concentration of demonic activity in the underworld. He wanted only the strongest and most resourceful to do his bidding, and they tended to congregate. Glancing around the dimly lit room, he noted with satisfaction that most of the demons froze with a combination of wonder, fear, and interest when they looked at him.

He had no respect for the ones that feared him from the beginning. They were cowardly, and as of yet, had no reason to fear him. But that would soon change. To show his authority, he blinked once, vanquishing several of them in one swift move.

When dozens of others attacked him, he sighed and deflected all of their combined strikes as he effortlessly vanquished other's that he didn't need, restraining the ones that he had use for. Pinning them telekinetically to the wall, he addressed a brute demon that seemed to be leading the others. "_You_, will secure the first item on my list. You have 20 minutes to get it," he said, waving his hand and materializing a list of ingredients into the demons palm, "divide it up amongst your followers, bring them back here to me, and I'll let you live. Should you fail me, I will not make your death quick, nor painless. Are my instructions clear?"

The demon glared at him and hissed, "_Why should I help you_? You're a witch! I can feel it!"

Wyatt narrowed his eyes, his impatience clearly visible. He exaggerated his motions while he looked down to the demon's feet dangling in the air. Blinking again, he concentrated on small sections as he moved up toward his neck. When he was done, the demon watched in horror as his own body began to disintegrate slowly from the bottom up until it reached his lips, killing the scream as soon as it passed.

He eyed the others coldly as they tried to flee nervously, but he held them in place. He focused his attention on the one who seemed to be second-in-command. "That was not the correct answer. As I have now killed your former master, his task now falls to you. You now have 18 minutes. And be warned. Do not think you can simply hide from me. If you're not all back here in precisely 18 minutes, I will find you, and you will die in 19."

Wyatt smiled to himself as they all transported out of the cavern in a rush. He could have searched for the ingredients to the potion himself, but he was certain that he would have run out of time. With so many different hands on the task, he had little to worry about and leaned back against the wall, waiting patiently for the next phase of his plan to commence.

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews. Ok, let me know what you think--both of it, and what's going to happen. If you like it, I guess I'll be brave & post the next chapter soon. If not, I guess I won't until I re-write it. But I'm a little nervous. Haven't quite written something like it, but I've given you some clues here to tell you what's gonna' happen, so let me know? Please? Pretty Please? I know, I'm babbling like Phoebe. Sorry.


	16. Of All the People16

Of All the People

Chapter 16

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG-13, T. Please be warned that this chapter may not be suitable for all audiences due to content, which is not graphic—but definitely implies a lot. Though to be fair, it's nothing you won't see on the show. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

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Piper picked out one of his comfortable lounge sets out of the top drawer and brought them into the bathroom, setting the folded items down on the sink. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed him reach out blindly from inside the curtain, fumbling around for a towel to dry off with. With his eyes closed, he couldn't seem to grasp it, so she nudged it a little closer until he grabbed it. The practically see-through curtain barely covered anyone inside and she cursed herself for ever buying it.

_Voyeur! _She chastised herself. _I shouldn't be seeing this! _ She added with a slight amount of guilt, though she didn't avert her eyes that raked over his muscular form hungrily. He wrapped the wet towel around his waist and pulled the curtain back.

When he caught her staring, she blushed furiously and tried to back out of the room, but he grabbed her arm to prevent her flight.

"I'm sorry," she declared in embarrassment.

Leo smiled gracefully, elated that she still seemed to feel something for him. "Don't be. We're married, Piper."

"Divorced," she replied indignantly.

"Well, we shouldn't be. At least, we weren't the first time around since Chris was obviously born." The angel had yet to let go of her hand as he looked at her earnestly. "Since we found out about Chris, I've been doing a lot of thinking."

Piper's heart fluttered hopefully as her eyes met his. Maybe it wasn't too late for them after all. "Ab..about?" she tried to ask confidently, but it came out as more of hesitant stutter.

"You. Me. _US. _The decision I've made, and what's really important. And that's my family. You, Piper. I don't want to be an Elder anymore if it means loosing you in the process." He stepped out of the shower, his left hand moved to cup her face tenderly, while the other strayed to her waistline, drawing her in closer.

She didn't object when he leaned down and captured her lips with his own.

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Wyatt shimmered into the manor, feeling somewhat remorseful for the potion he carried in his hands, but he shrugged it off with the knowledge of all that could go wrong without it. _Until death, do us part…_he thought sadly. The only way to break the spell once it was performed was if one party died. Otherwise, they would continue as love-sick teenagers for the rest of their lives, unable to function with any sense of normalcy.

There was no way that could be allowed. His toddler self and his younger sibling would need the full strength protection of the Charmed Ones for as long as they could provide it. And though it pained him somewhat, he had decided rather quickly that his mainly absentee father would be the one to break the spell.

Once he had ensured his brother's survival, he would strike the Elder down quickly with his fabled sword. It was the least he could do for the man who gave him life by not letting him suffer from the effects of a darklighter poison. Of course, he hadn't mentioned this particular aspect of the plan to his brother. Somehow, he didn't see the younger man agreeing to that.

Wyatt glanced at the contents in his hand again. The love potion that he had just obtained in the Underworld was of the strongest brew, potent in every aspect. A recipient would be unable to resist its immediate effects with even the strongest will. As powerful as they each were, a Charmed Witch and an Elder didn't stand a chance against it.

He grimaced with barely controlled rage, knowing from experience how effective it could be. During the beginning of his reign, he very narrowly escaped the witch who thought to use it against him in order to rule by his side as queen. If his brother had known about that incident, he would have laughed and teased that it had been the other way around. And that may not have been very far from the truth. Which is precisely the reason he had never told him.

The spell induced fog that the potion had cast over him had truly made Wyatt believe that she cared for him, and that he couldn't live without her. He was quite willing to do anything for her. Ultimately, she had driven him mad with desire, and if it weren't for his second-in-command's quick thinking to vanquish her, he would have been very eager to consummate their new relationship, sealing both his fate and hers.

When he finally came to his senses, he had all of the potion's ingredients banned on penalty of death.

Luckily, they were still in existence in this time.

Dismissing those thoughts, he sensed for his parents, finding them downstairs in their old bedroom. _Perhaps getting some rest after their exhaustive search?_

As he neared the room, he raised his hand and prepared to shimmer in and throw the potion, waking them in the process. When he leaned his head near the door, he stopped abruptly by what he heard.

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_Inside…_

Locked in a passionate embrace, the Elder orbed them back into the bedroom. As he leaned in nibbling on her neck, she fell against him, enjoying the feel of his skin now flushed with warmth. She tilted her head, allowing him better access and murmured breathlessly as he kissed the sensitive area, "I thought you said we needed to rest?"

He paused only long enough to smile mischievously and answer, "Actually, what I said was that we _needed a break_. I never said _anything _about _rest_."

Piper giggled softly, lost in the moment as she removed the towel…

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_Outside…_

Wyatt couldn't suppress the grin that formed on his lips. On the one hand, hearing his parents at their rather enthusiastic activities was a bit disturbing. But on the other, it solved his problems without him having to interfere and nudge them in the right direction. And as desperate as his brother was right now, he somehow doubted that the boy would ever get over the idea of existing out of anything other than true love.

He tossed the love potion up in the air in careless dismissal. It was clear that such extraordinary measures would not be needed in this case. His parents had always found their way into each other's arms in times of extreme comfort and need. And from the tidbits he had gathered from his Aunts, _that was _how Chris had been born the first time around. It appeared that now was no different.

He turned with a soft chortle, momentarily startled to find his Aunt glaring at him in her fighting stance.

"Where the hell is Chris?" she hissed at him.

He quickly shimmered out, appearing again behind her and covered her mouth with his hand. "Be quiet!" he ordered in a hushed tone. "I'm not going to hurt you." He rolled his eyes when she continued to struggle against him and tried to make a sound. Realizing that he couldn't quiet her that way, he shimmered her out of the hallway and into Paige's room, who jumped up startled. He grabbed her hand as well and shimmered them both downstairs and released two very angry witches.

Before they had a chance to speak, he informed them bluntly, "Do not call for mom or dad right now. They're busy. Making a baby."

"Chris?" Phoebe whispered in surprise. At his slight nod, "Then today is the day?"

"Yessss," he drawled with barely controlled patience. His Aunt always did have a knack for stating the obvious. It annoyed him when he was a teenager. And now that he was heir to Excalibur, ruler of the world, it still annoyed him.

Paige's eyebrows shot up in suspicion, "How do we know you haven't hurt them?"

Tilting his head slightly, he offered her a sly grin. "You don't. But you're welcome to go and listen for yourselves. But if they're in there screaming, it has _nothing _to do with me."

His somewhat playful expression soon turned deadly serious as he stepped closer to the women. "Prove it to yourselves that I have not hurt them, but I warn you—_do not_ interfere. Chris' life depends on it." His blue eyes hardened menacingly with his focus on the empath, "Because if you do, I will forget everything you have ever done for me. Clear?"

Phoebe suddenly found herself speechless as her gaze locked on her nephew. Even if it weren't for the stony expression or the overbearing presence, she could still read him. But what both shocked and even frightened her a bit, was that there was not a hint of hesitancy or untruth to his words. _How could that sweet little angel have fallen so far? _she wondered absently.

Paige nudged her and answered shortly, "Crystal."

Phoebe averted her eyes and shied away from the powerful gaze. Staring into them any longer would probably set her empathic abilities on overload again. "Paige, would you go and check please? Quietly?"

She nodded and orbed away, leaving the two alone.

Phoebe shifted uncomfortably as Wyatt stared at her coldly. "You enjoy making people fear you, don't you?"

He sighed dramatically, the amusement in his voice mocking her question, "Am I _that transparent_?"

She shook her head disgustedly, "What happened to you?"

"Life," he answered simply.

"Well now that's fairly vague. How old are you now, about 25?" She crossed her arms and curled her lips up smugly, "Cause that gives us about 24 whole years to work on that attitude of yours."

He countered in the same tone, "Since when has a Halliwell with your obsolete world views ever lived that long?"

She ignored the inkling of curiosity that surged as he had just given away future information, opting instead to continue badgering him, "You want to be more specific and tell me? Save us the legwork? Because we _will_ figure it out and stop it from happening, you know that, right?"

He shrugged with disinterest. "You can try. If I didn't tell Chris, what makes you think I'd ever tell you?"

"Then you do love your brother?"

"Would I be here if I didn't?" he gritted out.

"Then tell me where he is. What have you done with him?"

He waived his hand dismissively, "It's none of your concern."

She threw her hands to her hips defiantly, "Well, I'm making it my concern. I swear, Wyatt—if you've hurt him—"

"You're threats mean nothing to me." The blonde shrugged and turned his back to her carelessly, demonstrating his point with his lack of concern.

Phoebe scoffed angrily, silently wishing for Piper's power to blow him up right now. She stomped in front, waiving her finger at him, "Don't you walk away from me. We're going to find him, with or without your help."

"Then perhaps you should try looking in 2027? Honestly, did you think I would allow him to remain here making a nuisance out of himself and jeopardize all that I have worked for? I sent him back to the future where he belongs, where he will remain. I've only stayed long enough to ensure that he'll be there when I get back."

He handed her the vial that he carried with cheerful warning before shimmering away, "It looks like we won't be needing this. Don't spill any on yourself."

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Mausoleum…Day 6…August 26, 2003 

Chris was pacing frantically when his brother shimmered back in. He practically tackled him when he set eyes on the older man. "Do you know how long you've been gone?"

Wyatt glanced at his watch absently, "Not even an hour. I told you that I would be back before anything happened, and here I am."

Chris' eyes darted back to his stomach, still transparent, but now growing outward to encompass the rest of his torso. He looked up nervously, "Are you going to do the spell?"

The blonde remarked flippantly while he headed for his seat in the corner, "No." It wasn't necessary any more.

His mouth fell open. "Well did you tell them—that they had to—you know?"

"No." Technically he had only told Phoebe and Paige.

Chris was beginning to panic. "Well what about a love potion? Did you make one of those?"

Wyatt tilted his head up while he pretended to ponder the question. Rubbing the rough stubble of his beard, he thought about how he had actually forced the demons to make it for him. So technically, _he _had hadn't. And making his brother sweat was just a little payback after all of the trouble he had caused him this past year. His voice raised in pitch as he shook his head, "No."

The brunette screamed in disbelief, "DAMN IT! What happened? Did you do ANYTHING, _or should I start making out my will_?"

"No. I didn't have to," the older man said cryptically. At Chris's confused expression, he hinted, "Have you ever seen an angel put the moves on a witch? I wouldn't worry. You should be fine very soon." Wyatt looked on smugly as Chris began to solidify right before his very eyes. "Sooner than I thought, apparently. Now, I think we have a few things to discuss…"

TBC…

AN: Sorry guys if you thought this was going to go any other way, but I just couldn't force Chris to be a test tube baby:) And I'm really not inventive enough to come up with a different way to get Chris back into the picture. And I toned down P&L. A lot :(

Now if this story was only rated 'R'. sigh

Not real bad, huh? As I mentioned in the last one, I haven't quite written anything like this before, so let me know what you think.

Thank you all so much for the reviews.


	17. Of All the People17

Of All the People

Chapter 17

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG-13, T. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: Getting close to the end here, so I thought I'd have a little family reunion :D

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Phoebe waited downstairs patiently with her younger sister, or at least, _tried to be patient_. She was currently pacing the floor, awaiting the couple's arrival—or Wyatt's return, whichever came first. She was sure that he would do just that if things didn't go well for the youngest Halliwell.

The empath shifted her dark eyes up toward the ceiling, trying very hard not to make any sounds that could possibly startle the couple, even going so far as to quiet her breathing. Until she thought about how absurd that was. It wasn't like they could hear much of anything except each other right now, especially since they seemed to be in their own little world. But she wanted to be certain. After all, Chris' life depended on them getting it right the first time. And Wyatt had apparently just wanted to make sure that that happened.

But the earlier confrontation with her nephew had startled her to no end. She had been surprised when she saw him, and instantly prepared for a fight, but found that he was only interested in listening in on his parents before returning to wherever he was hiding.

Phoebe and Paige had guessed that the vial that now sat on the kitchen table had been a love potion, and he was fully prepared to use it on his parents. His parting warning left no doubt in her mind that he must have considered it been both strong, and infallible. She wondered what sort of side effects would inevitably follow such a brew.

Opposite the middle sister, Paige paced the floor nervously after hearing a replay of her sister's conversation with their oldest nephew. "So you think he was serious?"

"Yes," she stated firmly.

"About sending him back to the future?"

"No."

The younger of the two sat down on the couch heavily as she scratched her head. "Then I'm confused. Which is it?"

The empath played with the collar of her shirt before resting her palm on her chest. "When I was staring into his eyes, I could read him a little. It was quick, but it was so intense. When he threatened us? He meant it. Every word of it if we risked Chris' life. But when he said that he sent him back, I got a sense that he was lying."

"Then where could he possibly be keeping Chris where we couldn't find him for all this time if they're still here?"

"Well, normally, I would say that it had to be someplace in the Underworld. But that can't be. Wherever he's keeping Chris, he would have to keep him incapacitated to prevent him from escaping back here to us."

Paige looked down sadly, still feeling the weight of guilt from her earlier actions. "Maybe he doesn't want to come back here to us," she uttered softly.

Phoebe answered in the same tone, "No, Paige, you have to stop blaming yourself. From our perspective, it did look bad on his part. And I'm sure he'll understand that when we find him. But I don't think that would stop him from trying to save his brother. Chris is nothing, if not determined. He'll do anything to avoid failing on his mission to save Wyatt. And he still cares about Chris, so there's no way he would leave him in the Underworld unprotected while he visits us on these little excursions. But I can't think of a single place where he could shield him from us so completely."

Paige was about to agree sullenly when her eyes suddenly fell on the brochure lying on the coffee table. "No. No way." She said with disbelief as she grabbed the booklet and held it up for the empath to see. "_Doesn't your loved one deserve the eternal peace and tranquility that only Freehaven can offer?"_

Dark brown eyes widened with the knowledge as she whispered, "The mausoleum…"

Paige was ready to charge in there to get him back, "Let's go!" she said grabbing her sister's hand enthusiastically.

Phoebe shrugged out of her grasp quickly and backed away. "No. Not yet. Honestly, I'm not so sure we could go up against Wyatt alone. We're gonna' need Piper and Leo. Besides, he won't risk hurting Piper while she's pregnant with Chris."

Throwing her hands on her hips impatiently, Paige asked, "Well, how are we going to know when that happens?"

"Oh don't worry, I'd be willing to bet my life that Wyatt will come back if it didn't. Until then—we wait."

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When the couple made an appearance sometime later, looking a bit disheveled, but still presentable, Phoebe lowered her eyes and grinned bashfully. "Uh, nice to see you two so happy. I'm glad that getting a few hours of sleep helped you guys to get a fresh start."

Feeling in much better spirits now that they had a good idea of where to find the two boys, Paige quipped innocently, "Yeah, we should all be so lucky to get some good sleep like that."

Piper blushed furiously, wondering if they had been aware of the kind of sleep she and her husband had gotten. She was positive that they had been so tired, that they would have just dropped in their beds for a few much needed hours of rest. They couldn't have possibly heard anything. Could they? Her eyes darted to the Elder, who suddenly began rocking on his heels and staring up at the ceiling to avoid anyone's eyes.

Phoebe elbowed her younger sister and glared at her, not really wanting to embarrass the couple. "So anyway, as soon as we woke up, I headed down here to get a cup of coffee while you guys were sleeping, and something happened. I ran into Wyatt."

Leo's eyes widened, "Wyatt?"

"Yeah. He's still here. Which means, that Chris is still here. Now I know he said that he sent him back to the future, but I think he was lying. So when he left, we started thinking about all of the places that he could be keeping him."

Paige added excitedly, "We already ruled out the Underworld because it would be too dangerous for Wyatt to leave him there alone. And we know he didn't want to kill him, so leaving him there with demons wandering about would just be asking for trouble. So where else would he take him that was magically protected and hidden?"

Piper and Leo were both at a loss for words, still not following.

Phoebe picked up the brochure and dangled it in front of her older sister, "And what did we just buy a few weeks ago that is magically shielded from any prying eyes?"

Piper's eyes widened as she finally understood her sister's train of thought. It was a place that the Charmed Ones themselves had made undetectable. Being from the future, it made perfect sense that the boys would be aware of its location. "The mausoleum…" they all agreed. "Let's go!" the anxious mother demanded.

Phoebe grabbed her baby sister's hand, while Leo took Piper's and they orbed off to find their young whitelighter.

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Bathed in the bright lights of orbing, Chris shielded his eyes from his family's arrival. It was the most light he had seen in days, and his eyes hadn't adjusted quickly enough to avoid the headache he received from the intrusion.

Wyatt lit the torches around him to see what the newcomers were up to, but other than that, no one had yet to make a move in any direction.

Piper stared at her youngest son from across the room in a new light. It was the first time she had truly gotten the chance to look at him since she discovered his identity. _He has my nose_, she smiled thoughtfully. _And my lips. And those eyes—definitely Leo's through and through. We must have been blind not to see it! Wyatt was right, he does look just like me, _she thought in astonishment."Chris, are you ok?"

He only blinked a response. As he listened to the gentleness in her voice, it didn't sound as comforting to him as he would have expected. After nearly a week, they had finally come to his rescue, and he just didn't feel the relief that he had been positive it would have brought. Instead, all he could picture were the disgusted looks on their faces, the harshness in their voices, and the bitter taste of rejection he felt as they contemplated allowing him to die. Even though they were unaware of his identity, it didn't make the knowledge any less painful.

He thought it was extremely ironic that as he lay dying in Wyatt's arms, he was perfectly willing to forgive them. But now he wasn't so sure.

Chris's gaze shifted to each family member before he finally spoke. His voice was filled with betrayal and sadness over the earlier misunderstanding that earned him a knife in the chest. "I wasn't going to hurt him."

She extended her hand slowly, not wanting to frighten him off. "We know that now, and we're so sorry. _I'm--_so sorry baby, I should have known. I should have recognized you. But please, we can talk about this at home. Just come with us. Wyatt—don't you even try to stop us or I swear—"

Wyatt crossed his arms nonchalantly, "I'm not going to try and stop you. Chris is free to do whatever he pleases."

"Then why have you been keeping him prisoner in a cemetery?" Phoebe shot back.

"That's none of your concern. But I have made a promise, haven't I, Chris. You will come home with me. Now, where you belong," his brother demanded quietly but firmly.

Piper bristled at the commanding words and tone toward his little brother. She didn't like his possessiveness one bit, and she let him know as much. "He _belongs_ here with us, Wyatt. Where we can figure out what went wrong with you. Stop acting like you have control over him, I'm his mother, not you!"

Wyatt yelled back when she raised her voice, loosing his thinly veiled patience with his family. "No, you're not! Not yet. None of you know him! And until a week ago, none of you _even liked _him! Hell, you were willing to let him bleed to death in your own house! You don't have a say in anything that happens with him from now on. Since I've had more of hand in raising him than any of you, I'm the only one who does! I'm taking him back. End of discussion."

Leo stepped closer, determination in his eyes. "Like hell you are."

Wyatt hissed at the man dangerously, "It's not like you can stop me. Besides, you got lucky once—may not happen again," he told him, referring to his earlier plan that only he was aware of.

The Charmed Ones moved to stand beside the Elder, prepared for a fight if it came to it.

"You're—_not—_taking him," Piper answered sharply and raised her hands to show her willingness to flick her wrists against her oldest son.

Chris knew from experience that both sides were mere moments from using their powers against each other. And to top it all off, he had had enough of the back and forth bickering over him. He felt like a rag doll being pulled apart at the seams.

His chest heaved furiously as he fumed and stepped in between them. "STOP IT! I'm not some little kid to be fought over in a messy divorce! I'm not going with any of you, so just leave me alone!" he glared around the room pointedly, "ALL OF YOU!"

Very little shocked Wyatt Matthew Halliwell these days, except for his brother. And now was no different. He covered his mouth in sudden surprise, but soon found it difficult to stop laughing. Chris's outburst was quite unexpected. But if there was one thing that he did still believe of his family's teachings, it was that power was directly linked to your emotions. And it was clear that the boy was still upset by what had transpired earlier that week in the manor. _And maybe a few other things since then_, he admitted silently.

But the stunned looks on each of their faces as Chris followed through his tirade by _flaming _out of the mausoleum was priceless. _Now where did he pick that up? _"Well—wasn't expecting _that one_…" He clapped in appreciation as his laughter continued to echo in the tiny hall.

TBC…

AN :0

So were _you _expecting that one:D

Thank you all so much for the reviews. You guys are the best. I'll probably show what happened in the interim mausoleum scenes that could possible explain some of this if you guys want me to—just let me know:)

Otherwise…well, I do like my surprises, don't I:)


	18. Of All the People18

Of All the People

Chapter 18

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

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Piper was not only shocked, but infuriated, and her oldest son's maniacal laughter did nothing to improve her mood. She grabbed him by the collar and started shaking him as if were a teenager and not a grown man who was currently evil ruler of the world. And her actions even seemed to amuse him further. "What did you do to him!"

"He did that on his own. _I_," he emphasized, "_don't flame."_

Piper had never been a firm believer in corporal punishment toward your children, but she began to wonder if this one made her change that attitude in the future. While she seethed at his current attitude, she certainly wanted to wipe the smirk off his features now. "You turned him. He never flamed before!"

"There was _nothing _to turn. There is no—oh forget it. It's as useless explaining it to you as it is to Chris. I don't know where he got that from. But then again," he surmised, "his father wasn't an Elder before, so maybe you two did it to him," he said with amusement.

Leo crossed his arms angrily, "Elder's don't flame either, and you know it! Now what did you do to him?"

Wyatt rolled his eyes in exasperation as he shimmered out of his mother's grasp once again. He appeared behind them, the amusement clearly fading as he stiffened his shoulders.

Phoebe jumped in surprise. "I hate it when he does that!"

Hoping to dissuade them from following, Wyatt stated harshly, "You've got one son that shimmers, and another that flames. I think it's safe to say that he and I are now officially _'evil' _as you're so fond of saying. Therefore, we will be returning to our future as soon as I retrieve my wayward little brother." He bowed cordially before shimmering out of the mausoleum.

Piper spun around to her husband in a panic, "Leo, we can't let them leave. If he takes Chris now, we'll never find out when he's supposed to be born."

Phoebe whistled guiltily as she glanced at Paige. "Well, you don't have to worry about that. You're pregnant with him now."

Piper's hands and eyes instantly strayed to her stomach. "What?"

Paige answered for her, "We weren't going to say anything, but that was one of the reasons Watt came to the manor today. He wanted to make sure that Chris was conceived today. He said he only stayed long enough to make sure that happened.

"I'm pregnant?"

Phoebe continued. "yes. So obviously, if he's willing to go back, he knows that Chris will be ok. Or at least born."

Piper shook her head in shock, "I can't be pregnant! I'm long past the time where it's possible for that to happen."

The empath began to get annoyed and threw her hand on her hip, "Well it did, so—"

Piper forgot about the earlier conversation with her husband as she closed her eyes, trying to figure out how she was going to raise two magical children alone. "Oh my goodness. What am I gonna' do?"

Leo understood her sudden hesitancy and wrapped his arms around her. "Piper, this is a good thing. We're pregnant again. I was serious about us earlier. You're not going to have to do this alone."

"Really?"

"Of course."

Piper gave her best innocent expression and batted her eyelashes, "Then you'll go out in the middle of the night to get my pickle, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when we run out again?"

Leo grimaced as he remembered her first pregnancy and the hormone driven, odd combinations of food that always made his stomach turn. He plastered on a false smile and said sweetly, "Of course, Piper. I'll get you anything you want," he continued and mumbled under his breath, "…no matter how gross it is."

"Alright then, we've still got to stop them. We can find a way to change Chris back. It's not like with Wyatt, who Chris thought was changed as a baby. He couldn't have been like this for more than a week."

Phoebe surmised, "I guess _that's _why he didn't want to come back to us. They're just one happy little evil family."

Paige shook her head, "I think they're anything but happy. Evil, maybe, but happy? No. Chris was just as pissed at him as he was with us."

Leo agreed eagerly, "I think you're right. Maybe at this point, he could go either way?"

Piper grabbed her newly reunited husband and smiled encouragingly, "Well then we'd better find him and get him on our side."

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No matter what condition Chris was in, Wyatt could always sense his brother's location, even in places he shouldn't have been able to. And if the younger witch concentrated hard enough, the reverse was also true. He chalked it up to the bond that existed between them, that as of yet, nothing had been strong enough to break. So he thought it was a good sign that he could sense him now.

He raised his eyebrows, mildly surprised to sense the younger man wandering through the underworld. He shimmered to his location and watched with interest as his brother battled a horde of demons. That in itself was nothing unusual, but the fact that he was apparently blowing off steam by incinerating them energetically with fireballs certainly was.

Wyatt was just about to intervene when Chris had been cornered, but his brother quickly dispelled that notion by flaming behind them and tossing several fireballs, vanquishing them before they even realized where he had gone.

Wyatt spoke with admiration as only he and his brother remained in the cavern. "I'm impressed. I counted 17 in under a minute."

Chris had his back to him while he answered, "There were plenty more before you showed up," he huffed, spun around and hurled a fireball at his older brother.

Wyatt barely shimmered out in time to avoid being hit in the shoulder. The younger witch's aim had been on target a moment ago when directed at the demons, so he wasn't concerned about the off center fireball that had just been directed at him. He could have thrown up his shield, but it likely would have bounced off and hit the younger of the two. "Now that might have hurt."

"Well it would've served you right!" Chris shot back while he pointed at him angrily. "You lied to me!"

"I did no such thing," Wyatt gritted out defensively.

"You're full of it and you know it! Why else would I suddenly be able to flame and throw fireballs. You set me up."

Wyatt pursed his lips, inhaling sharply as he began to loose his patience again. How many times was he going to have to defend himself? "Christopher, listen to me and listen closely. I DO NOT know where you got those abilities. The potion is only supposed to allow you to release what's already inside of you, allow you to choose. If it did more than that, I'd be the one flaming, not you."

"Prove it!" The brunette demanded stubbornly, "We'll go pay a little visit to the seer."

"Fine." He answered shortly as they both transported out of the cavern, arriving in true demonic fashion in front of the demoness.

She saw Wyatt and immediately dropped to her knees and bowed her head, "My King."

He stared back at her suspiciously, "You recognize me?"

"Oh yes, My King, " she said in awe as her eyes met his. "The aura that surrounds you is even stronger as an adult than it is in your infant self. How may I be of service?"

"Now you see Chris, at least _some people _know how to show the proper respect."

Green eyes glared at him in response as he retorted, "Well I've known you since way before you stopped believing in the Easter Bunny, so pardon me if I'm not inclined to bend over and kiss your royal ass."

Wyatt raised an eyebrow in mock offense, but was actually fairly amused, "I'm not sure if I like this new evil streak in you, Christopher."

The younger man snarled, "Bite me," then bowed as an afterthought, "_Your Highness_."

The seer chocked back a laugh before quickly sobering up under Wyatt's harsh glare. "Show him the truth," he commanded.

"As you desire," she nodded before swirling her hand over the pool. She stepped back allowing them to peer inside, watching intently as the manor appeared in the ripples…

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews.

AN: Short, I know. But more is written, I'm just to tired & lazy to type anymore tonight. But I think next chapter will have some interim mausoleum scenes that you didn't see, as well as an answer to one of Chris' questions. Which one, you'll just have to wait & see :)


	19. Of All the People19

Of All the People

Chapter 19

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: Sorry it's been so long guys, but I've been on vacation for the last couple of weeks, and I didn't have access to the net. But I have been writing! With old fashioned paper & pens;( Now I just have to type it up. So more soon, I hope…Thanks for being patient.

Here's a longer chapter for you:)

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_Manor – 2004 Original Future_

Piper sat on the couch panting heavily as her husband pleaded with her, "Piper, you have to go to the hospital."

"No," she growled adamantly, "Wyatt was born in the manor, and I want—" before she could finish her sentence, another wave of pain hit. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she practiced her breathing techniques, calming it down slightly and allowing her to finish her thought. "I want Chrissie to be born here too…"

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Wrinkling his nose disgustedly into the seers pool, Chris cocked his head inquisitively as he asked his brother, "Chrissie?"

The blonde grinned smugly as he replied. "Phoebe had a dream, which she swore was a premonition—that you would be a girl. Wishful thinking is more like it. Christine Melinda Halliwell—Chrissie for short—was your name, at least until you finally decided to make an appearance. But thanks to her, you still came home wrapped in that hideous little _pink _outfit that she bought."

Chris' head shot up in horror, "Is that why I've never seen any of my baby pictures?"

"Trust me, I did you a favor by destroying them. Now be quiet and watch…" he instructed as their eyes drifted back to the manor.

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Leo was on his knees in front of his wife, "Piper, please. You have to listen to me. You're already overdue by at least a day—so long that Phoebe had to leave until it was time. But you've had so many complications with this pregnancy, and I just have a bad feeling that something may be wrong with the baby—and you could be in danger too."

"Then you could just heal us," she answered stubbornly.

Leo was beginning to panic as he stood up and paced across from her, "I could heal you, but if the baby is still born or something Piper, I can't heal the dead. Please!"

Seeing that he was genuinely concerned, Piper began to push herself up from the couch. "Ok, fine. Who's gonna' watch Wyatt?"

The doorbell rang, agitating her already volatile mood. "Oh, that had better not be a demon, because I swear I will blow his a—"

He paused, shrugging his head in disbelief, "Ringing the doorbell?"

"Just get the damned door!" she yelled, stirring him into action.

Darryl stood on the other side while his four year old son pouted and hid behind his legs. He smiled cheerily, "I found Wuvey." He reached down and guided the child in front, "Robbie, hand it over."

"I don't want to!" he stomped his foot petulantly.

His father groaned impatiently as he took the little boy by the arm, "I don't care what you want, Robbie. You are going to give Wyatt his bear back and then you're going to apologize for taking it." He looked up to the other man, "I'm sorry, Leo. I know how much of a mess this caused."

"Well, I've got the perfect way to make it up to us. I need you to keep an eye on Wyatt while I take Piper to the hospital. She's in labor. Phoebe was tied up and is going to meet us there as soon as she can."

"Sure, no problem. Come on Robbie. You can give it back personally." They headed upstairs as Leo whisked the expectant mother away.

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In the underworld, Wyatt's eyes darkened in fury as he began to realize what was being shown. He telekinetically pinned the seer to the wall. "Why are you showing this?"

She clawed at her neck while he closed his fist and struggled to answer. "I have no control over what is seen. You asked for the truth and that's what it's showing."

"Well stop it!"

"I can't. I can only start the vision. It will end when it shows what it wants to be seen. Killing me won't help you either, it will continue to play until that happens."

"I can solve that problem," Wyatt grimaced as he powered up an energy ball, his brother blocking his path to the pool.

"No way, Wyatt. You're not going to destroy the one thing that may tell me why I suddenly have demonic powers. And if you do, well then I guess I'll have to assume that you lied to me about the potion's effects. Won't I?" green eyes flashed dangerously.

Grudgingly, he extinguished the energy ball at the same moment he released the seer, standing aside for Chris to view the scene again.

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Darryl had the blonde toddler nestled in his arms as he began to lay him down for a nap. He smoothed his baby fine hair back and smiled as the child sighed contentedly. He gently untwined the tiny fingers from his shirt. Sleepily, baby blue eyes drifted in and out as the child fell asleep in his godfather's arms.

From across the room, Robbie watched the scene wide awake, secretly glad that it wasn't him that had to go to bed. He turned around to face a strange sound behind him, crying out frightfully as the monster picked him up. "DADDY!"

Before he could even set the toddler down, Darryl spun around only to face his greatest fear. A demon stood holding his youngest son in a vice-like grip, threatening him with an athame.

He wanted to call for help, but knew that Leo was unlikely to leave his wife and get there in time. And damn if Paige wasn't still a stone statue wrapped safely in a comforter in her bedroom until they could find a way to reverse the actions of the Titans. He needed magical help, but he was going to have to rely on his own devices at the moment. He reached down to his hip, feeling around for the gun typically ensconced in his holster, only to find that it wasn't there.

He cursed under his breath when he realized that he had left it home since it was his day off to spend with his children, and he promised Sheila that they would never be around weapons. But the demon currently holding a knife to his son's neck apparently didn't get that memo. "Don't hurt him, please?" he tried to ask calmly.

With a feral grin, the demon pointed to the child in Darryl's arms, now wide awake and watching the scene with interest. "I'll trade you mine for yours."

Darryl shook his head emphatically at the unexpected negotiation. "No. No way."

The demon held the athame closer to the child, breaking the skin slightly and causing him to cry louder.

The detective glanced down at the toddler in his own arms, and his eyes met with the big blue eyes that were still so full of trust and innocence as he tried to decipher what was going on. It didn't matter to the little witch, because there were very few people he felt safe around, and his Uncle Darryl was one of them.

Darryl gripped the child a little tighter, "Please, I can't. He's just a baby."

"That witch is anything but!" the demon sneered as he pointed to Wyatt. He held up the little boy in his arms, "Now this, this is just a baby. Soon to be a dead baby. But you'll be the one to have to explain that one to its mother. So I suggest you make up your mind. The child—or the witch."

The closer the knife moved to his son's throat, the closer Darryl Morris came to panicking. He couldn't allow Robbie to be hurt, so after several long minutes of contemplation, he finally convinced himself that the blonde-haired child had far more powers than even the Charmed ones. By those rights, if anyone could protect themselves, it was him. He would be fine until his family could rescue him.

The detective nodded slowly before moving closer, "Put him down first," he ordered the demon nervously.

As the exchange was made, the older man tried his best to avoid the baby blue eyes that stared at him in surprise, bright with unshed tears as the demon gripped him under his waist.

No longer feeling the safety of his protector, Wyatt started to raise his shield, but stared at the floor in wonder as it too failed him. Somehow, the creature holding him was blocking it. He didn't understand it. Any of it. Or why his friend who had always been so kind to him would send him away. The small boy locked eyes with Darryl sadly one last time before he was shimmered out of the safety of the manor.

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In the underworld, all of the color drained from Chris' face and his heart began beating wildly. Ice blue eyes avoided him, instead glaring into the pool as the ground shook beneath them.

The dust and rubble from the cave began showering down on the trio. Chris turned to his brother, knowing that it was his loss of control that was causing the potential cave in. He couldn't allow the pool to be destroyed since he only had the answer to one of his questions. He hadn't seen the older witch loose it like that in years. But then again, he could very easily imagine that's how things must have looked after his first flight to the past. By the time Bianca had brought him back home, the elder witch had had plenty of time to calm down—_at least, a little,_ he chided himself after remembering Wyatt's fist telekinetically closing on his windpipe. "Wyatt!"

Snapping his fingers in front of the older man, Chris groaned in frustration while he was again ignored. Finally, he grabbed his arm and spun him around, "WYATT!"

"WHAT!" he answered tersely.

"Stop this!" he demanded. As the dust cleared, he continued, "Look, I understand now. Why you're so angry. Darryl betrayed you."

The blonde focused his intense stare on his younger brother pointedly, "_Everyone _has betrayed me. It would seem that is also part of my destiny, wouldn't it?"

Chris chose to ignore the reference to his own part in Wyatt's anger. "I'll bet that was the first time that ever happened, wasn't it. And you still remember it. Someone once told me that 'trust is a precious commodity. Once you loose it, it's pretty hard to get it back.'"

Wyatt merely folded his arms and turned away from him.

Chris turned to the seer, and nodded appreciatively. "Well, it wasn't the answer I was looking for, but it was the answer I came here for, so thank you."

She bowed curtly as he began to flame out.

"Where are you going?" Wyatt hissed and halted him in tracks.

"I have something I have to take care of first."

"We had a deal!"

Chris allowed a devious grin to play across his features. "Which I will honor. But you never specified a time _when _I had to honor it. Later, Wy."

The Twice Blessed Witch fumed angrily as his brother flamed out of the cavern. He moved to follow the younger witch, but the seer interrupted his exit. "My king?"

"Not now," he gritted out impatiently.

She stammered nervously, "But this is important."

"What?"

She directed her hand to the rippling waters, "The pool still plays."

"And?"

"He only saw what he needed to see. But that does not mean that it was complete…"

Wyatt shrugged as he watched his child self being hunted by Gideon and his demonic accomplices. "I know. It's not my fault if the boy never learned patience."

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Darryl ducked the ball of flames that was just aimed at his head while he continued running. "What's gotten into you, man?"

The dark-haired witch glared coldly as he powered up another fireball. After finally finding the cause of Wyatt's downhill path and all of the pain and heartbreak it had caused, Christopher Halliwell wasn't in a very generous or forgiving mood. But there was something holding him back, else he would have incinerated the detective before he even had a chance to take a step. Brushing that strange thought aside, he decided to answer the question honestly before hurling another fireball. "You know, I'd be interested to find that one out myself, but I'm a little preoccupied at the moment."

Darryl hid behind a dumpster in the alleyway, hoping that he could somehow talk sense into the young whitelighter. "What are you, possessed or something? Why are you doing this? What have I ever done to you? I've done nothing except protect the sisters, isn't that why you're supposedly here?"

"No, actually. I'm here to protect someone else. _From you."_

"I'm not a threat to anyone…"

"And I'm going to make sure that it stays that way."

The detective's heart beat faster as the flames singed his hair when the fireball came dangerously close. "That was too close." He looked up and shouted, "PAIGE! LEO! Your whitelighter has gone nuts!"

Chris threw his head back and laughed sardonically, "Oh, now you want to call for Leo? Why didn't you do that before just handing over his son to a demon!"

"I don't know what you're talking about Chris, please. I would never do that."

"And you never will…I'm sorry, Uncle Darryl," the young witch whispered as he closed his eyes and tossed the fireball in his palm.

The older man was so stunned by the words, that he forgot to duck. "Uncle?"

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews.


	20. Of All the People20

Of All the People

Chapter 20

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: This chapter is a little bit longer, only because I'm trying to wrap it up now that I'm back in classes. I'd like to finish in the next few chapters so that I'll only have 1 story to feel guilty about not updating:)

And thank you again for all of your fabulous reviews—they really make my day. And make me keep writing to so I can update sooner:)

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Wyatt shimmered in behind his baby brother, smirking as he watched the fireball approach its target.

With a slight and covert movement of his index finger, he shifted the fiery object slightly while he quietly uttered a glamouring spell.

Opening his eyes once more, Chris's heart sank when his gaze fell upon the pile of ashes that had once been his godfather. He had been so wrapped up in his anger, that he only now felt his brother's presence beside him. He began to panic as he whirled around on his heels to face the taller man. "What did I just do?"

Wyatt responded monotonously, "Well, a passerby would probably say that you had just murdered someone. And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that dear old Uncle Darryl?"

Chris stared at the man in shock, soaking in every detail of the older witch's appearance, attitude, and overall lack of concern. It certainly wasn't what he had expected. "But you're—"

Wyatt finished his sentence almost cheerily, "No different? Well of course not. What did you expect? There was nothing that 'turned' me to begin with. Now do you believe me when I say that there is no good or evil, Christopher?"

"No, it can't be—"

"But it is. And _your actions _have proven that you and I are really no different. Except for the tiny fact that I shimmer, you flame. Don't feel bad, Christopher. He had it coming. I think it's time to go home now."

Chris protested weakly before Wyatt cut him off shortly. "But—"

"You gave me your word. You wouldn't be trying to back out of that, now would you?"

Letting out a long and deep sigh, the younger witch shook his head and stared at the pile of ashes despondently. "No. But I killed him. _I killed Uncle Darryl_. What's happening to me, Wyatt?"

Wyatt placed a hand on his shoulder and explained sympathetically, "You've made your choice. You can't go back to the way things were before. Not after this. Now it's time to take your place by my side. Where you've always belonged. The Halliwell brothers were always meant to rule together…"

Chris stood stark still, barely listening as his brother prattled on about what the future would be like from now on. All he could focus on was the deal they had made while he was still trapped in the mausoleum. He had thought that he would have weeks, if not months, to come up with an alternative solution. But now the time had come, and it had only been a few hours. At the time he had made the promise, he hadn't really thought that things would get to this point.

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_Earlier in the mausoleum…_

…"_Because I believe I know how you will choose, Chris. What's inside of you. We were always meant to be on the same side. Whatever it may be. Now take it," he said agitatedly as he shoved the vial toward his brother again._

_Chris narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "How is taking this potion now going to save me? It's too late for me to be conceived. And even if it weren't, I have no control over whether or not mom and dad—you know."_

"_I'll take care of that. If you take care of your part…"_

"_Which is?" he groaned impatiently. _

"_I will tell you if you stop interrupting me…" Wyatt hissed in frustration through clenched teeth. "If you come back to the future with me, it's yours. All of it. And you may do as you please with it. My entire empire will be yours to rule as you see fit."_

"_What? You must be kidding me. You're not that generous."_

"_You didn't let me finish. For one year, you may do as you please with it. You can change it however you like, release anyone you like, make any truces you like, fix anything of your choosing."_

_Chris paced around his brother, his arms flailing wildly. "What am I supposed to do in one year? I could never undo all of the damage you've caused in _one year_."_

_Wyatt taunted him with a patronizing glance, "I took over the world in one month. Surely you can maintain it with eleven more. If you can get the majority of—let's say all citizens, including magical creatures—to follow you, after one year's time, I will reclaim the throne."_

_Sucking his teeth bitterly, Chris rolled his eyes as he interrupted, "I knew that was coming…"_

"_To rule it jointly with you—your way."_

_Chris was a little stunned by the offer and stroked his chin as he considered it, but was still a bit wary of the older man's intentions. "And what do you get out of this?"_

_Wyatt smirked gleefully, "The enjoyment of standing back and watching you fall on your ass. Getting mortals, witches, demons, and other magical creatures to live in harmony is no easy task. It requires a firm hand, one that you don't have. But I'm willing to let you try it your way if it means that we no longer have to fight each other continually. It was never meant to be that way, Christopher. We're brothers. Brother's don't spend their entire existence fighting against one another." He raised an eyebrow thoughtfully, "At least, they shouldn't."_

"_And what if it doesn't work? Do you expect me to just stand back in the future and watch you murder innocents? I could never do that, Wyatt, and you know it."_

"_You may eventually come to see things my way. Once you have seen first hand what is required to keep order."_

_Chris shook his head sadly, "But if I go back now, you're never going to let me come back to stop whatever it was that turned you. You have too much fun on your little power trip." _

"_You're right. I won't let you come back. But I will allow you to waste your time trying to discover what it was that you claim 'turned' me here in the past. Should you succeed--simply for the sake of argument, which is quite impossible since there is nothing that 'turned me'--we will both simply return to the future that you've always dreamed it to be. But when you fail, you will return to the future with me to make it work the way it is."_

_Wyatt slowly unwrapped Chris's clenched fingers and placed the vial into his palm. "Do we have an agreement? It's not as if you have all day to decide…"_

_Chris glanced down nervously at the vial in his hand. '_What difference did it make_', he thought. Wyatt was simply allowing him to continue on his mission here because he was so sure that he would fail. And if he did, well, then at least he could continue in the future and try to make it a better place. And he wouldn't fail. Couldn't fail. He was positive that the solution was here in the past, and he could find it. As long as the potion didn't turn him evil first. He shuddered at the thought. But what choice did he really have? Wyatt wasn't going to help him to be born if he didn't accept. At least this way, he would have options. _

_Chris closed his sea-green eyes for a moment before returning to greet the eagerly awaiting ice-blue ones. He sighed and held up the potion in a toasting gesture, "Bottoms up."_

_Wyatt grinned, looking very much like the cat that ate the canary. "So we have a deal?"_

_The younger man gagged on the bitter tasting liquid before finally swallowing. He took the outstretched hand and shook it while nodding slowly. "Deal. Just so you know—I am going to save you Wyatt, whether you like it or not." _

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_In the alley…_

Wyatt studied his brother's appearance and frowned disappointedly. Shaggy hair, light-colored baggy clothes, and not even a five o'clock shadow. He didn't look much more than rebellious teenager, let alone an authoritative figure to be feared. "You also can't go back home _looking like that_. No one will take you seriously as their leader. Until you learn to do it permanently, glamour yourself into something decent like I showed you earlier," he instructed.

_Something decent?_ Chris snorted to himself. He knew Wyatt's idea of something decent would probably involve him looking like a darklighter. Folding his arms in resignation, he stared absently down to the ground as he searched his mind for a look that seemed dangerous, and potentially deadly. What did it matter since he had already murdered an innocent. There was no turning back from that. _Perhaps_, he thought pensively, _that is what happened to Wyatt_. He had reached the point of no return, and now, so had he.

Chris finally decided on a similar look that he had seen being sported by one of his Aunt's favorite actors, Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean. He snapped his fingers, transforming his clothing to match his brother's dark ensemble. His physical appearance took on a light mustache, a simple goatee, while his shaggy dark hair remained the same length and draped to cover his left eye. His mother always hated that hair style and tended to brush it back behind his ears whenever she saw him. She used to tease that it made him look the part of the trouble maker she knew him to be, with his hair always hiding the mischief behind those sparkling green eyes. But he knew that it was all in fun, because she had actually told him countless times how proud of the young man he was growing into just before she died.

But now he had killed an innocent. For nothing. It served no purpose except to turn him into the monster his brother had become. She no longer had a reason to be proud of either of her sons now.

And he really couldn't blame her. The cold and empty feeling that he now felt would go a long way to completing his new look with the emotionless mask he now wore.

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_Back at the manor…_

"How are we going to find him?" Leo paced the floor worriedly.

"We're going to scry for him." Piper said simply and held up the athame that had begun their troubles nearly a week ago, careful to keep it hidden from her youngest sister. "With this. Now that he's not in a magically protected environment, we should be able to find him fairly easily."

"_PAIGE! LEO! Your whitelighter has gone nuts!" _

Both Leo and Paige jumped up at the voice shouting in their minds.

"I think Darryl's already found him," Leo answered eagerly. He held his hand out to his wife, while Paige took Phoebe's hand. "Let's go."

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They arrived just in time to see the former police office disintegrate into a pile of ashes.

"We're too late…" Piper gasped as her hand covered her mouth. They watched the two brothers for a moment in silence as they conversed. It shocked them even further as Chris snapped his fingers and made the transformation.

Finally finding her voice, Piper wandered over to her two adult children.

"CHRIS! What did you do?"

"I thought I was doing what I came here to do. Eliminating the threat to your son. But it didn't work. Bianca was right. We were naïve to think that we could change anything. All I ended up doing was changing myself. And getting the only woman I ever loved killed. And murdering my godfather. So I think I'll just cut my losses and back out now before I screw things up even more."

"Back out? Chris, you're scaring me."

He stared at his family and answered flatly, "I'm scaring myself."

Leo shook his head emphatically, "I know we've had our difficulties, but you can't just leave. Please, Chris. We'll find a way to work this out. This isn't you, we know it was something your brother did to you. You're good, I know that now. We need your help to change all of this!"

"It wasn't meant to be changed. Not like this. I'm going back. When I'm born, do the world a favor and bind both of our powers. Maybe then, none of this will have to happen again." He turned to his brother before flaming out toward the manor, "Let's go."

Wyatt remained behind for a moment, giving his family his trademark hardened stare. "About binding our powers? I wouldn't do that if I were you." He added before shimmering out, "Not unless you want more of your friends to die needlessly."

As soon as Wyatt left, the glamouring was lifted.

Phoebe was the first to notice and her eyes widened in surprise. Absently, she swatted her arm out to tap the person next to her, hitting only air. "Guys, I think you'd better take a look at this…"

TBC…

AN: So what did she see? I know some of you can guess…And one more thing I wanted to mention--the inspiration for this chapter and one upcoming was this picture I found of Drew Fuller. It just screams 'I'm being bad' :)

since you can't see links within the story, I put a link to it on my profile page. Check it out if you want to see what my evil little chris looks like ;)

In case it takes a while to update, check out drew fuller fan dot com slash gallery, and then click on the 2003 publicity images, then check out image 6 of the runaway jury world premiere.

Thank you all so much for the reviews.


	21. Of All the People21

Of All the People

Chapter 21

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: Dont shoot me--I've been doing homework. But I took a break to do this instead. Happy:) Don't shoot me.

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Phoebe was still absently trying to get the attention of her sisters by tapping them, unaware that she was walking.

Paige heard her and spun around to where the empath had been standing moments ago. Her eyes widened as she saw what she meant. "Piper, look!" she pointed then grabbed her hand to run after Phoebe.

Phoebe hurried as fast as her stiletto pumps would carry her. "Darryl! Are you ok?"

He brushed himself off, looking around warily. "You couldn't hear me? Or see me? I was yelling for you since your whitelighter went psycho on me. And he called me, 'Uncle'—and who was that other strange guy—was that the demon who put Chris under a spell or something? 'Cause those nut's tried to kill me!"

Piper winced at the description, looking a bit sheepish. "Uh, sorry?"

"What are you sorry for?"

"Well, uh, both of those 'nuts' are my sons. And apparently, if he called you 'Uncle', they're both your godson's too."

"What!"

Leo answered, "Chris is our son too, and the tall-mean-looking blonde? That was sort of—well that was Wyatt. From the future. And I'm guessing that he somehow put a glamour over you so that Chris would think that you were dead. He saw, we all saw, exactly what Wyatt wanted us to see."

Darryl just looked shaken up, unable to get over the fact that Chris was their son. "Oh. Wow. Chris is your son? Why didn't you tell me?"

"We just found out a week ago ourselves."

The detective wrinkled his brow as he suddenly grew defensive, "Well, I didn't do anything to the kid, I swear! So why is he trying to kill me?"

"We think he's under a spell tat Wyatt put him under and—" Piper began explaining then broke off mid-sentence. "He tricked him into going back to the future, and they're probably leaving—right now. We have to stop them!"

"LET'S GO!" they all chimed in, except for Darryl, who seemed to think it was a good thing the two were leaving.

"You too!" Piper added and grabbed his arm before he had a chance to protest.

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They orbed into the attic just in time to see the portal lit, shouting the young man's name.

About to take a step, Chris halted and turned as he heard their voices. His breath caught in his throat when he saw his godfather standing beside his mother, perfectly safe and unharmed. He moved to back away form the portal because there was no way he was stepping throughafter his brother had apparently lied to him. "You son of a—"

"HEY!" Piper objected.

Looking a slight bit guilty for what he almost said, he searched his mind for another curse to hurl at his brother, "—witch"

Phoebe snickered, "He's got you there, Piper."

"You two aren't going anywhere," the eldest Charmed One stated as she raised her hands to freeze them both, assuming that as now former good witches, her powers would work on them. She was highly surprised when it didn't, and Wyatt just turned and smirked at her before facing his brother as he spoke.

"The deal is off Wyatt."

"You seem to be under the impression that you have a choice here."

Chris sneered and pushed him, "I should have known I couldn't trust a snake like you." If he expected his brother to be hurt by his words, he would have been disappointed. Wyatt only shrugged calmly as he raised his arms.

The younger man immediately recognized the signs and tried to flame out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough as he was pulled to the ground. No form of teleportation, demonic or otherwise worked in the midst of this particular power of the Twice-Blessed Witch.

The cyclone of wind that Wyatt had just generated had forced everyone in the attic, except for himself, to grab hold of a stable object.

Papers, potions, books, rugs, and everything else that wasn't nailed down was sucked up into the whirlwind and redirected wherever the witch chose.

The wind whipped her hair into her eyes as Piper struggled to hold on to her youngest sister, who looked as if she were flying the way her body stretched out in mid air. "What's happening?" she demanded of her husband, who was struggling to hold onto Phoebe and Darryl with all of this Elder strength. "It looks like Wyatt can control the elements."

"We have to stop him!" Phoebe said uselessly as her heel was ripped from her foot and careened toward the portal. The only benefit, she could see, of loosing such an expensive shoe was that Wyatt had to duck the stiletto that nearly impaled him, causing him to loose some of his concentration—and force of the cyclone.

Chris was already partially in the portal, his grip only maintained by three already straining fingers that gripped the wall beside it.

The wind picked up in speed and intensity and he looked up, only to find his brother waiving goodbye at him with one hand mockingly. Any response he intended was silenced as his fingers lost their tenuous grip and he found himself being sucking back into the future by the cyclone.

Wyatt turned slowly, the only part of his bodyaffected by the miniature tornado was his hair flapping in the wind. He noted that everyone was barely holding on, including his mother and aunts who were all several feet off the ground.

With a smirk, he abruptly dropped his arm, while he pointed his finger at his mother, lowering her gently to the ground. His Aunts, however, hit the floor with a painful thud.

Paige glared at her nephew evilly as she picked herself up, her eyes darting to the eldest sister who hadn't been dropped as unceremoniously as she had. She threw her hands on her hips and tapped her foot impatiently as she continued to shoot daggers at him.

He grinned at her mischievously and shrugged, offering her a simple explanation for the favoritism. "She's pregnant."

"You have a lot of explaining to do, young man. _After _we go and get your brother."

Wyatt threw up his shield blocking their path to the portal. "Well I'm afraid, Mother, that I don't have enough time to give you one. And honestly, I wouldn't even if I did. But the point is, I have to get back to the future—otherwise, his new subjects may kill him before I get there." He turned and took a step.

But the Twice-Blessed ruler couldn't stop his mouth from gaping open in surprise as his Aunt called for the portal and orbed it out of his reach. He had thought that only his brother still did things that shocked him, but apparently, he just hadn't been around the rest of his family enough.

Piper smirked at the stupefied expression he wore. "Since he flames and throws fireballs, I think he can handle himself against a few of your minions. But it's you I don't trust with his well being."

Wyatt narrowed his eyes and sneered, "I don't need to be here to get back to the future."

Darryl watched in surprise as his godson just shimmered out. "He shimmered. I thought shimmering was an evil power?"

Piper raised her eyebrow, answering acerbically. "Uh, yeah. By the way, you didn't happen to catch any of that when he kidnapped his brother and tried to kill us with a tornado in our attic? Paige—where did you orb the portal?"

"Into the mausoleum. I figured no one would notice it in there."

"Nice Paige," Piper tapped her on the shoulder proudly. "Let's just hope that isn't Wyatt's first stop."

Realizing her error, she lowered her head sheepishly as Piper herded them downstairs demanding, "Come on, People. We have to find a way to get to the future so we can save my son."

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In the future, a figured tumbled out of the portal and landed in a heap on the floor. He looked up to find that he was not alone.

She lifted her head, parting her long and dark tresses from her eyes and stared at him disinterestedly while she continued to file her nails. "Took you long enough. I've been waiting here for days. You know, that looked like it hurt. Not exactly the most graceful entrance I've ever seen."

He rolled over and sat up, still far too infuriated to get up off his position on the floor. He fixed his sage-green eyes on the scantily clad woman with disdain. "_You again_. Did the two of you plan this?"

She blew the dust from her nails before offering him a wide grin. "Yes and no. It just sort of fell into place. Kind of how you just did."

"You were supposed to have been vanquished decades ago. Why are you still alive harassing me?"

"First, I'm not harassing you. Second, most of your family only _thought _I was vanquished. You see, I had a premonition—oh wait, no I didn't. Seer's don't have premonitions—we have _visions._ So anyway, I had this vision that Zankou was going to kill me—you know, I never did like that guy—I had this vision—"

He huffed impatiently and stood up, "You mentioned that already. Care to get to the point?"

She ignored him pointedly and continued her roundabout response. "So as I was saying, I happened to mention this vision to your brother. You know, right after you took off to go and murder your godfather? Yeah, I know about that dirty little secret of yours. So anyway, he said he could conjure a duplicate for me that Zankou could vanquish while I vanish into the sunset. I was supposed to wait in hiding living a completely normal and carefree life until he became the ruler of the world—or at least until he got out of diapers. His first orders, given back then, were to wait here for you. So, you may as well get comfortable since this is where you'll be staying for the rest of your foreseeable—and I do foresee all—future."

"I don't think so. I'm not staying. And if you think you're keeping me here…" Chris smiled sinisterly as he powered up a fireball, leaving his threat hanging in the air.

Her eyes suddenly raked over him with interest while she circled him predatorily, "Ooh. When I first saw you, I thought that you were far too much of a _whitelighter _for my taste, if you get my drift. But I like this whole new you. It's very—" she shimmered out of the path of the first fireball he threw at her before appearing behind him, "--hot."

"I am not interested. But I am going to vanquish you for real if you don't get out of my way. You can't keep me here."

She pouted and batted her dark lashes for a moment. "Pity. But you're probably right, I can't." She nodded to the doorway where the taller figure was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. The black ensemble he wore matched the dark scowl on the blonde-haired main's face. "But he can…"

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews.

Yeah, I know, I added the seer back into another story. But what can I say, I like Charisma. She made a great seer.


	22. Of All the People22

Of All the People

Chapter 22

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

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The seer grinned widely as she stepped back and watched the two men facing each other angrily. "Ooh, a showdown. And me without my popcorn."

"Stay back, Kira!" the blond ordered with a slight bit of concern to his voice.

With green eyes trained on the dark clad figure a few feet away, Chris mimicked the older man sarcastically. "Yeah, stay back, Kira. Wouldn't want you to get caught in the crossfire, Kira." He smirked at the huffing sound she made and the slight twitching of Wyatt's jaw to the remark. Finally addressing the blonde, he snarled, "Didn't I leave you in the past?"

A brief look of confusion passed over the older man's features and he looked to the seer for a moment, who shook her head subtly. He quickly schooled his features and faced the younger of the two again, missing the curious glance he shot him.

"Since when do you need a seer's permission to answer a question, _Your Highness._"

"I don't require anyone's permission for anything. After all, this is my kingdom." He glanced at the woman again.

Chris began circling the other man suspiciously. _There he goes again. What is he up to?_ "Funny, with the way you keep looking to her for approval, you don't seem so sure of that. Besides, you did sign it over to me."

"And you believed that? You actually think I'd let you rule my kingdom?"

"That's fine by me, I'd be more than happy to give it back," he quipped then thumbed his finger toward the portal, "I'll just head on back to the past and mail you the pink slip."

"I don't think so."

Flicking his palm upward, Chris conjured another fireball, causing the other man to do the same with an energy ball.

The brunette flexed the fingers on his free hand itching for a challenge. "Try and stop me."

The blonde straightened his shoulders back, grinning sinisterly. "Happy to oblige…"

The seer's brown eyes widened as she watched the deadly balls heading for each other, shimmering out to avoid being hit, "Uh oh."

Kira appeared just outside the door and yanked it closed. When one of the minions headed for the attic after hearing the crash inside, she blocked his path. "You don't want to go in there right now."

"But…"

She winced as she heard another loud grunt from inside the room, followed by the floorboards vibrating from something—or someone—crashing into them. "Trust me. They've got some issues to work through. And I for one, don't want to get accidentally vanquished while they do it."

Suddenly, she jumped away from the door in alarm as the taller man came crashing through it, landing on his back and looking a bit surprised. She helped him up and raised her fist in the air, unable to bite back a retort. "Way to teach him a lesson, Boss. Now get back in there and kick his scrawny little butt some more…"

The demon's eyes widened at seeing his master bested, and he craned his neck to see how the other Halliwell could have managed that.

Before he got a glimpse into the room, she hooked her arm into his and began leading him away. She pretended to laugh heartily then inhaled sharply. "You didn't see that."

"But he could escape—"

"If you want to live, trust me—you didn't see that. Don't worry. Chris won't be going anywhere. We've got a little surprise for him."

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_2003…_

"Please, stop pacing, you're wearing away all of the dust on my floors."

Being that she was referring to an old cave in the Underworld, he was not amused and scowled at the woman venomously.

She ignored his sour mood while she movedbehind him and rubbed his shoulders. "You're so tense. You really need to relax."

He slapped her hands away and frowned at her again. "Would you stop that and concentrate on helping me to find a way back into that house."

Shrugging apologetically, she told him plainly, "Well sorry, but I just can't help myself. With you standing there looking so temptingly evil all in black…"

With an irritated sigh, the man waved his hand and quickly conjured himself into a faded pair of blue jeans and a matching tee. He had yet to remove the patterned white shirt that he wore on arrival. He narrowed his eyes at her, "Better?"

She suddenly lost interest and her voice dipped low with disdain. "Much. I don't understand why you have to get back into the manor in order to get to the future. Why can't you just leave from here?"

"Because, leaving from the place where you spent most of your life will ensure that the portal will open up exactly where you want it to go. That's why I made sure Bianca left from her mother's house. It enhances the amount of power within you. And now that they've put an anti-shimmering spell on the house, I can't get in. Which means—I have no idea where I will land! I've explained all this to you."

"Sorry, I guess I wasn't listening. But anyway, what does it matter? Even if you make it back to the future where you want to go, you'll only be disappointed when you get there."

"And why is that?"

"Because being a demon, I do happen to know a thing or two about them. And I know that since you didn't go with your brother, and knowing how upset you were that he escaped back to the past--they will probably try to get on your good side. And kill him as soon as he steps through."

Wyatt sighed loudly in agreement. "I know. Damn that woman! That's the second time in one week that she may be the cause of his death. I should kill her now and be done with all of her future stupidity."

The seer smiled, "Well, as much as I would enjoy the thought of killing a Charmed One, I do have to remind you that your infant self needs the Power of Three protection for as long as they can offer it." He stared at her as if she were an idiot and she gulped nervously, "Ok, I get that you were just ranting and probably not serious. So forget what I said about enjoying it. Anyway, I may not know how to get you back into the house, but I do know of a way to save your brother."

He spun around suddenly with interest, "How?"

"Well, if I were alive in twenty-three years, I could wait for him. Make sure that no one else entered the museum before you get there. But only if I were alive."

"You're not alive now, so what's your point?"

"Well technically, no since I'm a demon. But right now, I'm as alive as I'm ever going to be. But then again, I had a vision that I'm going to be vanquished next year by Zankou—which I don't get at all because he's not even free." She sighed dramatically, "So I wouldn't be there to help your brother."

Wyatt smiled at her sly response. She knew that if anyone could, the Twice-Blessed Witch would find a way to ensure her survival and played on that. She hadn't survived for hundreds of years so far if she hadn't been cunning enough to use every trick in her little black book. So she wasn't as stupid as he had first thought. And she probably only babbled to make herself seem non-threatening, keeping her alive while every other demon around her was vanquished.

He walked around her slowly, studying her movements before smiling slowly. He could definitely use someone like her working for him, and so he agreed readily, "Alright. You'll work for me and no one else. You will reveal yourself or your true nature to no one—not even me, until after I leave for the past. After that, you will give my clone instructions on how to—handle—my brother. And you will keep him there until I arrive."

"How?"

A ghost of an arrogant smile played on his lips as he stood back, refusing to answer her verbally. Without taking his eyes off her, he waived his hand, instantly creating a double version of her that now stood beside the seer's pool as if she belonged there.

The seer gasped in horror, looking down as he waived his hand again and her familiar, but skimpy clothing was suddenly removed. If they were gone completely, _that_ she wouldn't have minded. But the fact that she was now dressed in baggy denim jeans and an even looser fitting UCLA sweater was just plain outrageous. "You have got to be kidding me?"

His only answer was to conjure a knapsack into her awaiting hands. He resisted the urge to laugh at her school girl appearance. "The instructions, as well as proof you can provide to my double, are in the bag beside your world history textbook."

"I _lived _world history! I'm not taking a stupid class on it!"

He ignored her outburst, the amusement clearly evident in his features, "What's your name, by the way?"

"Kira!" she grumbled.

"No last name?"

"No. Can't remember." She said in a clipped tone.

He laughed again before waiving his hand, conjuring her paperwork to take on a new identity. "Then you'd better hurry Jessica Downing, because you're going to be late for class." He waived his hand again, shimmering her out of the cave to start her new life for the next twenty-three years.

He turned to the duplicate seer knowing that the clone had all of the original's memories up until the point where he just created it. "Now. Where were we?"

She sidled up to him and smiled seductively, "I was going to help you get back into the manor…"

His eyes rolled back in his head as he considered killing the duplicate demon himself in irritation. She may have been attractive, but her timing was just plain off. Speaking, or rather thinking, of timing--He vaguely wondered how his family was planning to get to the future to fetch their wayward son. Maybe, if he timed it right, he could hitch a ride.

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews. So I think we've got 2 chapters left, so everything will be resolved and you'll find out why Wyatt did what he did—probably next chapter. It's so hard for me to end this story, because it's probably been the most fun for me to write. But I'm so ecstatically grateful for everyone thats been a part of it :-)

I hope you understood the part in the beginning--notice I never called him--Wyatt:)

Just a heads up, the last one will end the same way it began—Wyatt centered.


	23. Of All the People23

Of All the People

Chapter 23

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: So sorry I took so long, but once again, classes and work have been taking up most of my time. Unfortunately, sleep filled the rest. So finally….

Ok, so I was wrong—I think this story will end with chapter 25, maybe 26. Since I haven't had the time to type anything with classes & work being so crazy, But I've been writing a lot on the commute to work. Hence, the extra chapter :)

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In the past… 

The duplicate seer had run out of magical ideas. She huffed loudly before she finally offered one more. "Ok, here's my last idea, because I can't think of anything else. So, here's what we know so far—you can't shimmer in; you can't project yourself in; you can't summon them out or yourself in; So--you break in."

Ice blue eyes focused on her with disbelief, "You want me—the Twice Blessed King, to break into my own home, as if I were a common thief?"

She tossed her hair and remarked flippantly, "You got a better idea?"

He frowned for a moment before smiling. She had given him an idea. "As a matter of fact, I do. I'm betting that since I can still sense them here, they haven't found a way into the future yet. So I'm going to walk up to the front door. And they're going to invite me in."

"No way. They'd know you were up to something."

The witch grinned slyly. "I know. That's why I'm going as you. Bearing gifts. I'll offer them a spell to get to the future." He closed his eyes for a moment, glamouring himself into the seer. "How do I look?"

The duplicate seer nodded in appreciation. "Absolutely stunning," she replied before he shimmered away.

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Darryl looked at the child in his arms warily before Piper scolded him. "He's still a baby Darryl. Right now, there's not an evil bone in his body, so you're safe from him."

"And the big version?"

Leo added confidently, "Well, he protected you for some reason or another from Chris, so I'm pretty sure you're in the clear. Just look after the little guy for us until we get back from the future."

When the couple arrived back in the attic, Phoebe and Paige were working on a spell to take them to the future.

"Anything?" Piper asked hopefully.

Phoebe handed her older sister a spell. "We can't seem to get the portal to open again, so we wrote one more for you to read alone. Then hopefully, we could just tag along for the ride."

"Hear these words, hear this rhyme, I call upon the Halliwell line,

send us forward to where we'll find, that wayward son of mine."

When nothing happened, the paper fluttered to the floor uselessly as Piper's shoulders drooped in frustration. "There has to be a way. I mean, how did Bianca and Wyatt do it?"

"Maybe you have to be evil to do it?" Paige offered helpfully.

Both sisters shrugged just as the doorbell rang. "We don't have time for this." Piper ran to the window and snapped, "Go away!"

Leo jumped up, eager to be doing something to take his mind off of their failure. "I'll get it."

Orbing downstairs immediately, he quickly flung open the front door and prepared to reject the visitor, only a bit nicer than his wife just did. He stared at the scantily clad figure for a moment, unable to find his voice.

Wyatt lowered his head while he tried to control his laughter at his unsuspecting father. _So that's how to shut the old man up…_he thought to himself. In the future, he would never even consider glamouring himself into someone of the opposite sex, but it seemed that here in the past, his brother's wry sense of humor had indeed rubbed off on him.

He decided to embarrass the Elder even further as he waved the feminine, well-manicured hand toward the sidewalk. The clothing was already earning shocked glances from the neighbors. "Should I stand out here and advertise some more, or would you prefer I come in?"

"Uh…"

Wyatt pushed his father aside and stepped in boldly, the seer's feminine voice filtering out of his mouth. "I'll take that as a yes. Before you ask any questions, let me just answer them to save us both some time. Yes, I'm a demon—a seer to be more specific, so I'm pretty neutral. I serve my own interests. I have information I know you are looking for—like how to get to the future. I have in my mind a spell—that will take you there. I've got some demons tracking me that would very much like to vanquish me, so my only conditions are that you take me with you so that I can get out of this mess. Deal?"

Piper called from the top of the stairs, "Leo, who's at the door?"

Leo still looked stunned by the lengthy explanation and answered his wife in a calm and simple voice, "Just a demon."

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In the future… 

Chris laughed as the blonde hit the ground again after being telekinetically dropped from the ceiling. "Either you just really enjoy pain, or you're holding back. Either way, I'm getting bored, so I'm just going to head on back now."

Kira shimmered back in, her arms crossed sternly as she watched the clone struggling to pick himself up off the floor.

Chris turned at her sudden appearance and laughed again. "I thought you said he could keep me here," he taunted with amusement, striding confidently over to the wall and began drawing the family crest.

Finally able to stand, the blonde spun around defensively, "You told me I couldn't kill him!"

"Yes, but I never told you to turn yourself into a piñata!"

Smirking while he finished drawing, Chris asked the seer, "So who is he?"

_No point in denying it now_…She shrugged and finally admitted, "Your brother conjured him so that no one would notice his absence when he went back to deal with you."

Chris looked surprised, "And no one has figured it out yet? I mean, he may look and sound like Wyatt, but somehow, he's just not as scary when he's landing on his ass!"

The blonde huffed indignantly as Chris taunted him further, "Do you even have any of his powers?"

"Only the deadly ones. He didn't want to take a chance with the passive ones–just in case someone got the bright idea to try and overthrow him."

Rolling his eyes sarcastically, Chris retorted, "Oh, right. Couldn't risk loosing his seat of power. Wouldn't that just be awful."

Kira poked her finger in his chest angrily "Actually it would be! Do you have any idea what would happen if they somehow managed to do that while he was gone?"

"Yes, my brother's tyrannical rule would be over. Sounds good to me."

"And as soon as he stepped back trough the portal, they would kill him on sight. Or torture him until his body finally decided to give up on him. Kind of like what you're doing to him."

"Oh give me a break! You act like Wyatt's such a martyr!"

"No, that title is only reserved for _you_. You don't even get when he's trying to do something to help you."

Chris stared at her incredulously. "Help me? I think it's obvious now that Wyatt doesn't do anything for anybody else, and nothing comes without ulterior motives with him…"

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On the other side of the door, the demon that had come down earlier had been determined to find out what was going on in that attic. His curiosity peeked as he listened to the argument inside. His ears perked up even further when he learned that the man masquerading as Wyatt Halliwell, was in fact no more than a clone that lacked the true power that their ruler dominated them with.

_This was almost too easy_, he thought. If he rallied the others quickly, they could ambush him unsuspectingly when he crossed the portal. Then only true demons would again rule the underworld--without that damned witch!

He shimmered off hurriedly to gather support…

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Continuing their heated argument, Kira once again defended Wyatt. "Yes, he had ulterior motives, but they all involved saving your pathetic life. I don't know why he would want such a traitor like you by his side."

Chris's retort was cut off when the room suddenly filled up with demons shimmering in. He found it odd that none of the them blinked or flamed in, because he was positive that Wyatt had both darklighters and warlocks on his payroll.

The clone squared his shoulders back and demanded authoritatively, "What is the meaning of this? I haven't summoned any of you. I will deal with this traitor personally."

Kira glanced nervously to the younger Halliwell, sharing a look of unease. She inched closer to him, knowing that she may be needed to get him out there, but she was still too far away when two brute demons blocked her path.

Chris paid her no attention as he quickly plotted an escape. He raised both hands slightly, preparing to conjure fireballs in both.

The clone grew agitated and demanded again, "I asked you a question!"

The demon who had gathered the others seemed to be leading their rebellion and answered for the rest, "For some reason, I don't feel inclined to answer. You know what they say—'while the boss is away…' He turned his head to Chris, "I know you hate him as much as we do—especially after he murdered your girlfriend," he threw in to incite his anger. He kept his grin under wraps when he noticed the young man's jaw twitch and he could tell it had the desired effect, so he continued. "We'll give you the one opportunity that you've been dying for…"

Chris allowed a small grin to creep onto his features. If Wyatt had been there, he may have been tempted to mock him childishly with, 'see, you can't trust a demon.' Outloud, he questioned, "And what might that be?"

"The chance to end his rule."

"You want me to help you so that you can kill him, I suppose?"

"Of course. Surprise is the only way to eliminate the Twice Blessed Witch."

"Sounds good to me," Chris offered with a menacing grin. When the rest of the demons relaxed a bit, his features soon fell into an emotionless mask. "But if anyone's going to kill him—it's me!" He let loose a volley of fireballs, surprising them all with his new power.

Nearly every demonic presence in the room seemed to panic at the new display. No on had ever managed to turn the younger Halliwell; not even his own brother. And those were definitely demonic powers. Now that they had, Christopher Halliwell posed more of a threat to the magical world than he ever did while good. One ruthless Halliwell brother was bad enough. But if two joined forces, they would become unstoppable.

With their numbers severely dwindling, the demons soon scurried out of the way and finally gathered their wits about them and began attacking.

Having no offensive powers, the seer ducked out of the way when both sides began trading deadly weapons. She slid into a corner inconspicuously and watched the younger Halliwell and clone fighting side by side. Now that the blonde duplicate was free to unleash the only powers he possessed, he did so with astounding accuracy. Together, they demolished the hoard of demonic mutineers.

Kira muttered to herself, "Hmm, they may actually win this thing…"

Apparently, she spoke too soon. As fast as one was vanquished, two more arrived in its place, and it was obvious that both Chris and the clone were beginning to tire. With the sheer numbers that they were facing, there was no way they could continue to gain the upper hand.

She bit her lip nervously as Chris twisted his body to the side, barely missing the athame that whizzed by him. If he got himself killed, Wyatt would surely fry her and everyone she had ever met. Desperately wishing for a weapon of some sort, she almost squealed in delight when a knife skidded across the floor in her direction courtesy of a fallen demon.

Picking it up, she easily made her way through the crowd since they had their backs to her, dismissing the demoness as a threat. With expert precision, she vanquished several before they turned on her and she was once again dodging fireballs to save her own life.

The clone caught sight of her movement. He yelled and cleared her a path to Chris. "Get him out of here, Kira!"

She nodded and moved to the brunette, preparing to shimmer him out of danger when he suddenly jerked out of her grasp.

"I'm not leaving! And I can get out myself!" he explained stubbornly.

"No, you ca—DUCK!" she screamed as a fireball sizzled his way.

Instead of doing as she ordered, Chris tried to flame out of the way, stunned when nothing happened. Luckily for him, the seer tackled him out of harms way, shimmering them both out of the attic before they hit the ground.

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews. With this new review system, if you leave a signed one, I can respond back that way—so be sure to log in:)


	24. Of All the People24

Of All the People

Chapter 24

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: I know its been a while, and I'm really, really, REALLY sorry, but animation is a tough subject and I just finished for the semester.

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Chris landed hard into the dirt, the extra weight of another body on top knocking the wind out of him. Green eyes stared up at her in confusion, "What happened?"

Kira practically growled in annoyance as she climbed off of him. "You lost! _That's what happened! _Plus I saved your life!"

"I mean, why can't I flame?"

Throwing her hands to her hips, she jutted her chin out smugly. "Your brother remembered that you suddenly learned how to flame, and didn't want you running around all by yourself. So he left instructions to cast a spell on the manor and vicinity—meaning anyone who doesn't shimmer—doesn't get in—or out."

He tried again, then huffed in frustration. "Well, why can't I flame now?"

"And you're supposed to be the smart one. Hello, still in the vicinity…"

Seconds later Wyatt's clone shimmered in looking none the worse for wear. He rushed to the woman, snaking his arm around her waist. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, thanks to you," she answered sugary voice.

Chris wrinkled his nose in dismay at the odd couple and resisted the urge to shiver. "How long has this been going on? And you do realize, that he's not the real thing, right?"

"Real enough for me. Besides, it's none of your business. And do you realize that they'll ambush the one that is real?"

"I know," Chris admitted.

"And you're ok with that?" she demanded incredulously.

"Surprisingly, no. Now we have to find a way to get them out of there before he gets back."

She stared at him suspiciously, "Ok, so you're going to help us with that. But then, you still think that when we're done, you're going back, don't you?"

"I'm not staying here…"

"Don't you understand you stubborn fool? Your brother may be evil, but he only brought you to the future to save your life!"

"What? How is making me evil saving me?"

Kira rolled her eyes languidly, "Oh please. You aren't evil, not even by your standards."

"Yeah?" Chris fired back, "Then why can I suddenly flame and throw fireballs—both of which are demonic 'evil' powers!"

She threw her hands on her hips and grinned smugly before answering. "Your brother is not the cause of those abilities. _Your beloved Bianca is_. In fact, Wyatt doesn't even know why you can do that. But I do." She narrowed her eyes in annoyance again as she continued, "I saw it in a vision since I've had 23 years—and a college education to research it. Besides, you would have died in the past. I can show you what he saw that day in my pool—you remember? Just after you ran off to murder your Uncle Darryl. It's the reason he decided to send you back—one way or another."

"Then show me."

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Kira shimmered them both into an underground cavern just outside of the city. She dropped his hand and waved it over her seer's pool that she had reacquired about a decade ago, commenting about the absurdity of seeing yourself in your own seer's pool.

As the rippling cleared, an image of Wyatt Halliwell appeared to be talking to her twenty-three years into the past, looking exactly as he did when Chris was thrust unceremoniously into the future.

_"It's not my fault if the boy never learned patience." Wyatt commented absently as he watched his younger self fending off what was supposed to be one of his father's most trusted friends. _

_As soon as the scene unfolded, another unfamiliar sight soon took its place. This time, he saw himself as a toddler being kidnapped by Gideon with no help from Darryl. He spun around to face the seer, "But that didn't happen. What is this?"_

_"No, this is what will happen now that he's changed quite a few things."_

_Wyatt watched intently as his brother stood over the Book of Shadows, guarding his younger self in the playpen a few feet away. He didn't think it was possible, but sure enough, his younger self looked apprehensive, as if he knew something was about to happen, and that didn't bode well with the adult version staring captivatingly into the pool. _

_'Come on,' his brother said to the child as he bent to pick him up. 'I think it's time to get you out of here.' _

_Wyatt shouted at the view of his brother in the pool, knowing that vision couldn't hear him. "NO! You idiot! Leave him—he can protect himself! CHRIS! LOOK OUT!"_

_The burly blonde jumped a little at hearing the sickening crunching sound that the athame made as it sliced through vital organs. It was only made worse as Gideon thrust the blade further into the delicate flesh and twisted to ensure a fatal blow. _

_He himself had performed that move hundreds, if not thousands of times. But it was different somehow watching it being done to his little brother. _

_Turning to the seer, he added somewhat nervously, "Dad can heal him."_

_"No," she shook her head sadly. "Look."_

_They watched in silence as the Elder tried desperately to heal his son before finally realizing there was nothing he could do._

_Ice blue eyes hardened again with determination as they locked on the brown ones of the woman. "He's not going to die. I've already made my decision on that, else I wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to ensure that he was born."_

_"I'm sorry, my king. And please don't kill me for saying this, but you can't fight death. He always gets the one he wants."_

_"Well he's not getting him. Not for a very long time."_

_"I know the pool. I can read between the lines of what it doesn't show. The only way to save him would be to send him back to the future. As long as he remains in the past, my king, his destiny will be to die an excruciating death by the blade of knife." _

_Wyatt searched his mind for another solution. "What if I eliminate the threat? Kill Gideon."_

_"He would still die by the hand of another."_

_"I could warn them…."_

_"It would only serve to make him afraid. Afraid of the death he can not change. Because by remaining in the past, it will become part of his destiny. The angel of death always finds his victims, and as powerful as you are, even you are powerless to stop him."_

_Wyatt gripped the edges of the pool tightly as he tried to think of an alternative. "What if I stay to protect him?"_

_"He will simply die in your arms. Just as he nearly did when you arrived in the past a week ago. He has already set this in motion. The only way to alter it is to change the path he has set himself on--take him back with you, keep him there. The longer he stays in the past, the lower his chances for survival. And there's one other thing…"_

_"What?"_

"_If you allow him to kill Darryl? He will loose his soul. The Christopher you know will be lost to you. Killing an innocent will destroy him. I think you know that." _

_Closing his eyes grudgingly, Wyatt nodded in admission before he thought of a plan. "But he doesn't have to think that for long. Just long enough until I can get him back to the future. Once he's there—he's not going to get the chance to screw up his life and get himself killed. I'll tell him then." _

When the vision was over, Chris stood as stiff as a board, gazing into the pool. He almost didn't believe the expression of near panic from the normally calm and collected ruler. Almost. But something in the crystal blue eyes told him that it was true. He blinked back tears of his own and half heartedly tried to deny the older witch's concern for him. "How do I know any of this is true? He still tricked me into drinking that potion."

The brunette rolled her eyes at the infuriating stubbornness of the younger man. "You know it is. He could have left you on your own. Instead, he risked sending you back here and having you hate him forever rather than letting you die. And in his defense, he didn't know the potion would have that effect on you. He couldn't have, because he wasn't there to see when it actually occurred."

Chris cocked his head in confusion, "I'm not following." He turned as she indicated the pool again where Bianca crept through an alley. He sighed softly at the woman's reflection, unconsciously reaching out to touch it. When the liquid rippled, he pulled back as if he had been burned, suddenly content to rest his hands on the side of the container. He watched her high-heeled boots pounding the pavement soundlessly. He knew that walk enough to know that she was stalking her prey.

_The sound of a newspaper blowing around behind the woman gave her away. The demon turned and flamed out of the path of the oncoming athame she had thrown at his heart. He quickly returned a fireball, but the brunette shimmered out and behind him. Before he could turn, she lodged her hand deep in his back and straight through to the front of his chest. He sunk to his knees from the staggering pain. _

_The reddish glow emanating from his body seemed to travel up her arm as she drained his powers and life. _

_Before she could complete her task, Wyatt shimmered in demanding her attention. "Bianca. It's time."_

_"I'm kind of busy at the moment, boss."_

_"Obviously not pleased with her flippant remark, he growled and telekinetically threw her across the alley and forced her to relinquish her hold on the barely alive demon, who slumped further with relief._

_Though the relief didn't last long as Wyatt disintegrated him with an energy ball before stalking over to the woman. "You're not busy now."_

_Wyatt reached down and pulled her up by her long locks, "When I give you an order, it does not mean whenever you damn well please!"_

_She pulled at his fingers still clutched in her hair and replied defensively. "You can't interrupt a power drain like that! It could kill me."_

_The look he gave her made it clear that he didn't care, but he held his tongue on that subject. "You're the one who was begging me to allow you to retrieve that traitor. Well, now, the spell is ready. But I'm warning you Bianca—turn him, bring him back—or I'll send someone else. Then neither of you will have to worry about the spell for the return trip."_

_He released her, then slipped a conjured piece of paper in her hand. She committed it to memory before discarding it, then jutted her chin out defiantly before shimmering back to the home of her youth. Before long, she had slipped back to the past and was approaching her fiancé. _

Chris turned to the seer, "I still don't understand, why are you showing me this. I was there."

"Yes, but I think you were a little too preoccupied with getting drained by your fiancé to pay attention. Watch."

Chris' eyes widened at what he saw and leaned in closer. At the exact moment that Bianca drove her fist through his chest, her arm emitted a warm reddish hue and traveled up through his body where it was attached, _That was definitely not the typical color of witch or whitelighter powers being drained, _he thought in shock. In fact, it looked exactly like the demon's powers that she drained minutes before she returned to the past. His mind reeled at the implication and tried to process the new information.

He spun around to the seer, only to find her grinning madly and nodding in confirmation. "That's right. Your girlfriend _infected _you with that demon's powers. And she knew exactly what she did to you. Do you remember what she said to you the next day in the park? She said, 'think of it as—'"

Chris finished her sentence softly, knowing the words all to clearly. "…an infection."

Her brown eyes glinted with amusement. "She contaminated your powers with his. Just like a disease. Then she cured you. And then your mom and aunts were so kind as to give them back again with their little spell. Now that's irony for you. The potion he gave you only allowed you to choose. I can only assume that you chose these powers because of their advantage."

He still wasn't convinced, "Then why do I feel so angry ever since I drank that potion?"

The clone finally spoke up and answered for her. "Because you've always been a cranky little brat whenever you don't get your way. I have his memories, remember?"

Chris breathed out deeply in relief, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. If this was true, then he wasn't evil. He hadn't killed an innocent. All wasn't lost. He may still be able to salvage his mission yet. But first, he had a bit of business to take care of. "What about my other powers?"

Kira shrugged her shoulders, "I assume they're still in there. Why?"

His lips curled up in a devilish grin. "Because we need to get rid of those demons back at the manor. And if I can access all of my powers, I've got just the plan to do it with."

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews.


	25. Of All the People25

Of All the People

Chapter 25

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

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Chris closed his eyes to concentrate while he searched for the natural powers born to him.

Five minutes later, Kira sat on a stone slab in the corner tapping her foot impatiently. The clone shook his head in frustration before he punched the younger man in the arm. "This is useless. Do a spell."

Green eyes popped open and glared at him, "I can't think of one…"

"Well I did."

"Then do it."

Ice blue eyes met a set of brown ones mischievously before he answered slowly, as if he were explaining to a four year old. "I-am-not-a-witch-genius. I-can't-do-spells!"

Chris dipped his head in embarrassment and allowed the dark bangs to cover his eyes. "Oh. Wait, what about the anti-transportation spell around the manor?"

"I had a witch cast it."

"Ok. Well let's hear your spell then…"

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_Forty minutes later…_

The clone sat in the corner grinning smugly while the youngest Halliwell practiced combining the powers he possessed, both natural and recently acquired. Even he had to admit that the inventive use of the powers, and Chris' quick study of them, was impressive.

When Chris thought he was ready, he turned to the blonde inquisitively, "What should I call you, anyway?"

"How about, SIR?"

Rolling his eyes at the similar arrogance, Chris remarked flippantly, "You really are his clone, aren't you. Whatever. Look, when we shimmer in, the two of you will have to take out as many as you can while I change the transportation spell to prevent any more from coming. We'll have to work fast since we won't be able to get out either."

Kira nodded in mock appreciation before her face turned sour. "That sounds like a good plan. But what am I supposed to do to take them out? Vision them to death?"

"Can you fire a gun?"

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_2003…_

Hearing her husband mention the word demon, Piper flew down the steps, her sisters hot on her heels. She raised her hands and prepared to blow up the intruder, but her husband jumped in front of their son masquerading as the demonness.

"Whoa! Wait Piper. She's just a seer, and she has a spell to get us to the future—_if _we help her and take her along."

Piper glared at her husband and turned to the brunette suspiciously, "And just who put you up to this?"

Wyatt spoke in an exasperated tone with the woman's voice, "I'm a seer. That means _I see things…_Like the fact that you need to get to the future. And like the demons who want to vanquish me because I gave them advice they didn't like—even if it was true."

Piper narrowed her eyes and barked, "Wait here." She spun around on her heels and herded her sisters back up the stairs.

Ten minutes later, she emerged again and waived the seer and her husband up to the attic.

When Wyatt sauntered over to the drawing of the triquetra, he prepared to say the spell and duck through it before they could tag along.

He hadn't planned on his mother sliding up beside him and slapping a bracelet to his wrist, with the other attached to her own. "What's this?" he demanded angrily and tugged on the cuff.

She smiled smugly, "Magical handcuffs. You're not getting out of these. Where you go, I go. What's the matter? You're a seer. Didn't you _see_ this coming?"

Wyatt cursed under his breath at the snicker his aunts made. He didn't remember the Power of Three ever being that cunning and devious. Though after a moment, he couldn't help the slight grin that escaped. As irritating as the women were to him at the moment, it's what kept him and his brother alive until they were old enough to protect themselves. Besides, _that is the reason he created a shrine in the future for them_.

He didn't have time to counter their spell, and physical resistance would only risk hurting his pregnant mother. Now he would have to take her along. At least he could still shorten the spell and only allow for him and his mother to get through. Once they were through, he could send her back easily enough. Narrowing his eyes at the three, he turned again to the wall and prepared the spell, making a slight alteration.

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_2027… _

After deciding on a plan, the trio shimmered back into the manor's attic prepared to protect the Twice Blessed Witch against the impending ambush.

Immediately, Chris concentrated and began the modified spell that would prevent additional demons from entering and shifting the balance in their favor. The clone fired off his own brand of deadly weaponry including energy and fire-balls, eliminating any who grew close to the chanting witch.

On his other side, the seer aimed her automatic weapon at any who approached.

The demon laughed at her weapon, "You should know better than that, woman. Bullets won't kill a demon."

"Wanna' bet?" To prove her point, Kira fired at the three demons closet to her and watched with a smirk as they disintegrated from the inside out. "Special bullets," she gloated happily and continued firing.

She had almost had her doubts that the bullets Chris had created would work because she had never seen him throw his electric spikes. His idea of subtly timing the projectiles to convert to fireballs on impact seemed outlandish when he first proposed it. She had never met anyone in all of her hundreds of years of existence who could harness the power of a fireball into a container, especially since they were designed to dissipate on contact with anything. But his wiccan/whitelighter projectiles that _could be contained _allowed them to start off in another form—bullets—before transforming. And now as she emptied her clip and prepared to reload, her doubts were quickly brushed aside.

Chris could barely contain his excitement and rubbed his hands together before firing off another spread of the converted projectiles. He looked to the other two who where advancing into the crowd of demons. The pair moved quickly and in unison, dodging and destroying as if they had done this before.

He didn't have time to ponder their behavior any further as he was forced to doge a particularly sharp blade that grazed his shoulder. Chris responded by flicking his wrists and sending the spikes barreling into the culprit. He was beginning to grow tired and there were still too many to leave to their own devices. But their odds were better now—only four each, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Though it was short lived as the clone was hit by an energy ball and thrown backwards, cursing under his breath when he realized that the clone was either stunned unconscious, or dead. They couldn't retreat, there were still enough for an effective ambush. He sensed someone moving up behind him, so he dropped to his knees and spun around firing. Not for the first time, Chris was glad he followed his mother's advice when dealing with demons—fire first, ask questions later. That was a little too close for comfort and his wrist was already starting to hurt.

But as he thought about the soreness in his body, the portal began to glow. For the first time in years, he welcomed the thought of his insanely evil brother coming after him.

The majority of demons seemed unwilling to give up their advantage, and soon refocused their efforts on what they hoped would be the Twice-Blessed Witch. They were surprised to find the eldest Charmed One emerging with what was apparently the seer's twin.

Stepping through the portal, Wyatt took in the scene before him. His immediate thought was that his minions were a little too eager to contain his brother and had attacked him on sight. But on closer inspection, he saw his clone lying on the floor with a burn mark on his chest, exactly the size of an energy ball. It didn't take a genius to figure out that his brother didn't posses that power, and saw their attack for what it really was—mutiny. His anger grew by leaps and bounds and he caught his younger brother's eyes.

The brunette had halted his own attack, allowing the older witches to take over. His mother began blowing them up faster than he had ever seen her do in the 14 years he had known her. Apparently, she didn't take well to someone trying to kill her youngest child. Chris turned his attention and grinned at the carbon copy seer attached to his mother's wrist, somehow managing to avoid the full on laughter that situated itself deep in his chest despite the dangerous situation.

In the blink of an eye, Chris had surmised that Piper Halliwell wasn't even aware that she was presently tied to her own first born.

Wyatt had seen enough. Telepathically, he summoned Excalibur and sliced through the metal that bound him to his mother, earning a gasp even as she continued fighting. With one sweep of the other arm, he slammed all of the remaining demons into the wall, knocking them unconscious.

Rising to his feet, Chris threw his brother a look of befuddlement. "Why didn't you just kill them? That's what they were trying to do to you. I mean, what happened to, '_if anyone else tried what you tried, I'd kill them on the spot_?"

The hardened, icy glare that often brought shivers to his spine emerged again, seemingly out of place in the mischievous brown, and still very much feminine, eyes. "Have no doubts that I plan to, Christopher. But a very public demonstration of what I do to mutinous traitors like that, is in order."

If his brother's implication had any meaning towards him, Chris dismissed it easily in favor of a highly amused snort. He strolled over to his brother who had yet to change back and caressed the pale blue lace of the bodice. "I like the new look. You know, this could really bring out the color in your eyes…"

Wyatt slapped his hand away at the same moment he removed the glamour once again revealing his natural appearance.

His mother whirled on him angrily, "You tricked us!"

Wyatt sighed in exasperation and held up the remaining end of the magical handcuffs. "Turn-about, Mother. Besides, if I hadn't, your son would have been dead as we speak. Now, if you don't mind—I have business to attend to." He gestured to the portal and muttered the spell that would send her back to her own time.

Chris fired back angrily and shoved him, "You're right, her son would have been dead--_you_. There were enough of them here to ambush you before you could even figure out what was going on. I didn't have to come back to save your ass! But it seems to be a stupid habit I have, doesn't it?"

_One problem at a time…_ Wyatt thought. It was going to take a tremendous amount of patience to deal with the younger witch. As if he had eyes in the back of his head, the blonde whipped his head around to face his mother trying her best to sneak up on him. His nostrils flared angrily, "WERE MY INSTRUCTIONS NOT CLEAR? _I said get out_!" The floor began to rumble unsteadily from the force of his emotions, and the windows would have shattered had the glass not been replaced with an unbreakable formula years ago.

"Good idea," Chris quipped and made a break for the open portal. He was stopped after only two steps by his brother's telekinetic grip on his body, dragging him backwards. He yanked and strained at the force that caught him, pointlessly digging his heels in an attempt to stave off the pull.

"You're not going anywhere unless I say so…"

Piper suddenly feared for her youngest son's life, silently wondering if she could fight one son to save another. "Leave him alone, Wyatt!"

"Stay out of this!" he growled and drew the younger man closer…

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews. So, what do you think?

Anyway, almost done :) finally, I've got just a couple more paragraphs to write to finish it off.


	26. Of All the People26

Of All the People

Chapter 26

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

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Unable to resist the telekinetic pull, Chris suddenly found himself standing toe-to-toe with his brother. He didn't dare try and use his powers against the older man since his mother currently stood behind him, and any action on his part would surely land her directly in the crossfire. "You may as well let me go, Wyatt, because otherwise, you're going to have to kill me to stop me!"

Wyatt listened to the tirade and quietly seethed. He wouldn't tolerate such insubordination from anyone else. And even with Chris, it was wearing thin. He darted his hand out, snaking it around the back of his brother's head and grabbed a tuft full of hair. He yanked his head forward so the younger man could see no deception in his eyes and barked, "Listen to me you idiot—"

Chris fought the iron grip that held him in place, pulling at the hand that was causing tiny shooting pains through his scalp. He hated when Wyatt did that, treating him like an insolent teenager rather than the independent adult that he was. In fact, the last time he had done that was when he _was _an insolent teenager. The harder he struggled, the tighter Wyatt's grip got. He decided that if he relaxed, maybe Wyatt would as well.

"Let go of me!" Chris demanded of his brother.

"Not until you listen to reason."

"You haven't said anything _reasonable_ since you became evil."

Chris watched the irritation flicker in the ice blue eyes mere inches from his own with a small amount of satisfaction. But when another emotion crossed his gaze and lingered, he lowered his eyes guiltily and Wyatt's fingers slackened somewhat.

He knew what Wyatt was trying to do, but he had already made his decision and couldn't afford to let himself be swayed from it now. And letting Wyatt know that he knew would only make the older Halliwell dig his heels in deeper.

When the older man finally released him, Chris used the opportunity and craned his neck searching for his mother. She stood back with her hands slightly raised and shaking, tears in her eyes at the idea of harming either of her children, evil or not. Unlike the previous time they had faced off in the mausoleum, this time, Wyatt didn't look like he would back down. She didn't know what Wyatt had in store for his brother, but from what she saw, it didn't look good.

With a soulful and desperate glance, Chris pleaded with her to help him, before Wyatt could interpret their unspoken communication.

Piper squinted her eyes shut tightly in acknowledgement, silently mouthing the words 'forgive me' to her oldest. When she opened them again, she focused all of the raw power that she possessed, guided by her emotions and the need to protect her child. The blast was enough to knock him off his feet, and he lost his tentative grip on his younger brother.

From his position on the floor, Wyatt looked up at her in shock before his eyes suddenly blazed with fury.

"CHRIS GO!" She shouted and stepped in between them, blocking Wyatt's path to the escaping witch.

After all that had happened in the past week, and all that he had been shown in the seer's pool, Chris knew that Wyatt wouldn't hurt him or his pregnant mother. But keeping him there against his will was definitely in the cards if he didn't take the last opportunity given to him to change the future. There was nothing in his way to stop him. Even the seer stood back and avoided the melee. A split second later, Chris scrambled backwards and turned, needing no further encouragement before he dived through the awaiting portal.

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_2003…_

Chris literally fell through the portal landing painfully on his face. "Just once," he grumbled, "JUST ONCE! I'd like to come back here and land on my feet!"

Leo helped him up worriedly, his eyes darting back to the open portal. "Where's Piper?"

Chris brushed himself off and removed what he considered his 'evil-looking' glamour, finally happy to be himself again. "She's right behind me. Don't worry, he won't hurt her. Phoebe, Paige—you have to write a Power of Three spell to prevent Wyatt from coming back. Ban him—if you don't things are not going to end well."

His aunts nodded and immediately began bouncy ideas off of each other to word the rhyme. Chris took a deep breath and pulled his father aside anxiously. He knew what horrors lay in store for him, and he didn't want to be hampered in the next nine months from protecting his brother with thoughts of his own impending death. "Leo, I need you to use your memory dust and erase my memory of the past week."

"What? Why?"

"I don't have time to explain that right now, it's complicated. But you have to trust me and do this."

"Chris, I don't think that's a good id-" he suddenly paused midstream and looked up to the ceiling at the familiar call. He shook his head as if deny the other Elder's rather persistent request, then turned back to his son.

Chris huffed in irritation at the interruption, "Don't worry about that right now. Look, Gideon—NO! Crap! Not now!" he hissed as he grabbed for his father who was unexpectedly orbed away by what he assumed were the Elders. He spun around intent on warning the two remaining sisters, but saw that they were deep in an animated conversation trying to come up with the spell. They had to work fast and he couldn't afford to distract them with news that would bring their brainstorming to a grinding halt.

Chris ran to the potions table and grabbed a spare pen and pad to write down the information he had gathered in the future.

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_2027…_

Wyatt rose to his feet glaring at the woman inching backward toward the portal. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"

"Yes, I do. I'm your mother, Wyatt, and I'll always love you. But that doesn't mean I'm just going to stand by and let you harm your brother."

"I'm trying to save him!" he answered in frustration.

Piper furrowed her brow in confusion to his cryptic answer, but retorted with one of her own just before she slid into the glowing blue puddle. "The only way you can do that is to let him save you…"

Wyatt grabbed for her to stop her from entering, but since he had made the portal specifically for her, it closed the moment she stepped in.

"This isn't over…"

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_2003…_

Chris had barely spelled out his father's former mentor's name before Piper jumped through warning, "Wyatt's right behind me!"

He dropped the items quickly, focusing on the more important matter of keeping his brother from returning. As the portal closed, he began rubbing off the chalk outline on the wall while the Charmed Ones chanted the spell several times.

Minutes letter, with the spell performed, all four stood back anxiously and wide-eyed as the portal emitted a faint greenish glow.

Piper glanced at her son, "Is it supposed to be green?"

For the first time since she had known him as their whitelighter, he sounded unsure of himself. "Um--I don't think so? But I've never rubbed it off the wall before—I just thought it would make it a little weaker, and I've also never had the Charmed Ones performing a spell to block it. So I don't know what it supposed to do."

The wall glowed a little brighter and Chris subconsciously took a few steps back, crossing his fingers and muttering, '_come on, come on, work…'_

They all held their breaths to find out if their barrier would hold against the Twice-Blessed Witch…

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_2027…_

Wyatt cursed loudly for the tenth time as he stood in front of the chalk outline in the manor's attic. Each time he tried to open the portal, it glowed a faint greenish color before fizzling out, taking with it the remainder of his patience.

Kira approached him quietly and decided that it was time to voice the answer she and Wyatt both knew. "I think it's safe to say that they've blocked you from returning."

The blonde whipped his head around and glowered at her. "Don't you think I know that?"

"Yes, but knowing it and facing it are two different things. You're up against the Power of Three with very little time left to counter their spell."

"If I don't go back, do you even understand what will happen?"

"Yes," she answered sympathetically. "And so does he. I showed Chris the pool. When he jumped through that portal, he made a conscious decision that saving you was more important than saving himself. If that ain't love, I don't know what is."

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_2003…_

"I think it's safe to say that he wasn't able to break through the spell—which was damn good on such short notice if I do say so myself," Paige quipped proudly.

Chris had to nod his own appreciation as he stared at the three women, rocking back on his heels with his hands in his pockets. "Wyatt's never had to face off against the Power of Three before. He's not used to loosing."

Any remark the Charmed Ones would have made was cut off by the sudden appearance of a group of Elders that surrounded the youngest Halliwell. "What's going on?" he asked nervously as one grabbed his arm and spun him around.

Chris' face barely registered the shock as he breathed in the memory dust. He swayed on his feet unsteadily as the sedative that accompanied the dust began to take effect. Just before passing out, Chris glimpsed the dark-robed figure that caught him, thinking faintly that there was something he meant to say.

"What the hell are you doing!" Piper hissed and threatened to blow up the intruders, her sisters reaching for their nephew protectively. "What did you do to him?"

Leo orbed in just in time to hear the question, answering disappointedly, "I'm too late. Damn it! Gideon, he's my son! I told you not to do this to him."

Gideon relinquished his tentative hold on the young man offered his most sincere and apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Leo. But it's for the best. Really."

Piper felt for the pulse in her son's neck, breathing a sigh of relief when she found it strong and steady. It appeared that he was just sleeping. "What did you do to him?"

"The other Elder's think it could compromise the future too much if he's aware of what happened this week. They erased his memory of it, gave him a sedative. When he wakes up, they don't want us to let him know that we even know who he is. Everything should go back the way it was before this all happened."

Piper whirled on her husband angrily, "How could you let this happen?"

"It wasn't my choice Piper! Besides, Chris wanted me to erase his memory as soon as he returned from the future." Even as Leo defended his mentor's actions, the more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and he voiced his opinion. "He was going to tell me something important—I know he was. Damn it, Gideon! Couldn't you have just waited a few minutes!"

"Again, I do apologize, Leo. But what's done is done. Now, it's also come to our attention that he somehow possesses demonic powers. Is that true?"

When no one answered, Gideon shook his head disappointedly and informed the sisters, "Before he wakes, you three will have to bind those powers. If he should remain in possession of them—well, I would hate to see the cleaners become involved…" The Elder bowed and orbed out, the remaining Elder's dispersing as well.

Piper kneeled down, gently brushing the dark strands of hair from Chris' forehead. "Leo, how can I go back to pretending that he's not mine? He's my baby." She spoke softly when he rubbed small circles on her back. "You should go, Leo…"

Leo dropped open his mouth in shock, "Piper, I thought we were…ok?"

"We are. But Chris doesn't know that. If you're suddenly here again…We'll do things slowly. Get him to admit who he is. I'm not giving him up."

Nodding reluctantly, Leo orbed out, leaving the sisters to care for his youngest son.

The paper that Chris had barely written on lay crumpled in the corner, unfinished. And with no memory of the knowledge, it would remain that way…

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Strolling into his office in magic school, Gideon nodded confidently to his assistant. "Our plans are still safe, Sigmund. If Chris had told them already, they wouldn't have hesitated to vanquish me as soon as I had arrived. No. Child or not, that abomination will be eliminated as planned."

TBC…

Thank you all so much for the reviews. That's all for now, but there is still one chapter left to go. I think you can guess where it's going from here since my little detour is getting back on track with the Charmed universe. Let me know if you need to see it or I need to clear anything up before the end. Can I say thank you so much again:) It's been a blast!


	27. Of All the People27

Of All the People

Chapter 27

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

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No one had breathed a word to Chris of the events surrounding his conception, including Phoebe. Especially since her sisters had come up with a powerful blocking spell that prevented her from talking about it. And so life went back to normal—well what passed for normal—in the Halliwell household over the next few months.

Chris was exhausted after hunting down a new lead on who would turn Wyatt. He collapsed on the couch in the attic with the Book of Shadows resting on his lap. Chris still couldn't understand why the sisters had converted part of the room into a living space, and insisted that he use it as his own. _Unless the old adage about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer applied…_

But he had to admit, the truce they had agreed to did seem to be working. The Charmed Ones didn't really complain anymore when it came to finding those responsible for Wyatt's downfall. Even Leo had backed off and stopped following him. Perhaps the scare where the cult nearly turned baby Wyatt had shaken them up. _Good, _he thought with a satisfied smirk. _Makes my job just that much easier. Should have thought of doing that before. _

He began to drift off until the sound of orbing made him jerk his head upright. Baby Wyatt now sat next to him, staring open-mouthed with the widest, most innocent eyes Chris could ever remember seeing. He couldn't help but smile as the toddler climbed over his leg and settled himself into his lap. "Hey, little guy. What are you doing up here? You know Piper's going to have a fit if you keep running off on her like this."

Wyatt's only answer was to plug his thumb in his mouth and nestle himself deeper into his brother's arms, leaving Chris to wonder exactly what the boy sensed that made him feel safe enough to do this. "So you're going for the weird kick too, huh? Come on then, let's get you back to bed."

Chris ran his hand against the soft golden locks and rose from his seat, finally noticing Piper standing in the doorway with a gentle smile. He immediately went to hand her the child and explained defensively, "He orbed up here on his own, I swear."

Piper backed up and refused to take him. "I know. Don't worry about it, Chris. You saved him. He trusts you now. More than that, he likes you too. I think he kind of sees you as a big brother or something."

Chris' eyes widened in panic for moment as he stared at the woman, trying to gauge if she knew more than she was telling—if she had figured out his identity. He thought he saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes, but it was gone in an instant and the butterflies in his stomach settled back down with relief. She was probably just using a figure of speech or something. He tried to hand the toddler off, but she refused again.

"No, you take him. Put him to bed. I already tried, but apparently he wants you to do it."

"He's had his bath?"

At her slight nod, Chris shrugged his acceptance and headed off with the toddler in his arms.

When she was sure he was out of sight and earshot, Piper couldn't hold it in any longer. Her shoulders shook with quiet sobs and she leaned into her husband's embrace, who had just de-cloaked himself.

"Did you see his face? He was terrified that I knew. Leo, he was never planning on telling us. I'm not going to get to hear him call me mom, am I?"

Leo didn't know what to say as to his son's intentions. But he knew without a doubt that he wasn't going to let the young man return to the future without admitting the truth. Because he wasn't going to let him go without holding him at least once. "I promise you that won't happen, Piper."

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_Six months later…_

Chris finished drawing the triquetra that would take him home on the wall at magic school. Leo and the sisters stood behind him anxiously waiting for their chance to say goodbye and thank you for saving Wyatt. He laid the chalk down despondently, knowing that it was probably the last time he would ever see his mother alive again and wished that he could say a proper goodbye.

"So I guess this is it, huh?" he said while extending his hand to Leo. Chris shuffled his feet nervously. "I know it's none of my business, but I was just kind of wondering if you and Piper were going to get back together. I mean, that's the way it was in my original future and I'd hate to go back knowing that I was the cause of separating you guys."

Leo took the proffered hand and smiled mischievously. "So you admit sending me to Valhalla?"

Chris suddenly looked like a fish out of water as he opened and closed his mouth, not a sound able to escape.

Leo let him off the hook and pulled him into his arms. "It's ok, Chris. I know you only did what you had to. And why you didn't tell us."

"WHAT?" Chris yelled as the sisters moved in teary-eyed to share in the hug.

Leo pulled him in tighter, offering an explanation. "Christopher. It was my father's name. And yes, to answer your question, your mother and I are back together. I'm never going to leave my family again, Chris—I promise."

Phoebe pranced around, dying to say something, but the spell still prevented her from uttering a word until the others did first. When Leo finally explained, she fanned herself letting out a sigh of relief.

Chris gaped in stunned silence and allowed himself to be shuffled around from one embrace to another, finally asking his mother, "You knew?"

"Yes. You didn't think I was going to let my baby get away without telling him how proud I am that he came here? Did you?"

"I didn't think—I mean, I thought I did a good job of hiding it."

"Please don't be mad, Chris. We didn't want to make this any harder for you."

"No, I'm not mad. Just surprised, I guess. I suppose it really doesn't matter now." With a cheshire grin, he leaned in closer, feeling genuinely happy for the first time in months. "I love you so much, Mom…"

_

* * *

_

_andA Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World continued… _

* * *

EPILOG TO FOLLOW. 


	28. Of All the PeopleEpilog

Of All the People

Epilog

By teal-lover

Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.

Rating: PG13, T

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.

AN: FINALLY FINISHED! Yeah! I hope you have all enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments, they've pushed me this far.

I even think I have another story coming out of this, thanks to TriGemini for the idea. Maybe a series of episode-based interludes that detail my slight AU from the time that Chris wakes up (with no memory) leading up until the end of season 6. Let me know what you think…

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_2027_

Wyatt couldn't believe that he had even briefly considered letting his brother die. And now here he stood, wandering through the museum from room to room, recalling every good memory he had of the place. Or more specifically, every good memory he had of his brother.

He had ordered everyone out of the museum for today. He knew that it was coming because his stubborn mule of a brother, had refused his help and insisted on returning to the past, thereby sealing his horrid fate.

Christopher was extremely resourceful, and with the aid of an Elder and the Charmed Ones, had effectively blocked him from returning to force the young man to return. Even as the most powerful magical being that had probably ever walked the face of the earth, there was not a single thing that he could do about it. As the days passed, Wyatt wasn't sure that he even wanted to. The boy had made his choice. He was determined, if nothing else.

A single drop of salty water rolled down his cheek as he found himself staring at the door to his mother's former bedroom. He took a deep shuddering breath and pushed the door in gently, trying to inhale the scent of her flowery perfume. It had always comforted him as a youth, welcoming him with open arms just as widely as the woman who wore it. But as the sunlight streamed down onto the bed, he found nothing but particles of dust and the scent of musty decay.

There was nothing inviting about this room now.

With one Halliwell son in the future, and the other in the past, Wyatt was determined that this bedroom would be the last place where he and his brother would spend their lives.

The seer had told him the corresponding date. The date when his father would lay his little brother down on this very bed, holding him in his arms in a vain attempt to stave off death. _As if anyone could beat the Angel of Death at his own game_, he thought bitterly. That date was today. Twenty-three years ago. His little brother that hadn't even been born yet, was going to die on the bed that he now eased himself down on.

Though every event in the past technically had occurred already, he knew that _it--_hadn't happened yet, not as far as Wyatt was concerned. Changing the past was a funny thing because the future was never immediately affected. The entire year that Chris had been in the past thus far, had brought about tiny rippling changes that only those who knew of his whereabouts were aware of.

At the moment, his brother was still alive, and Wyatt replayed the events from the seer's pool in his mind over and over until it made him sick. There was a hollow, foreboding feeling that settled in the pit of his stomach as he laid down. He could feel it coming, as solidly as the comforter he now gripped in his hands tightly. It was as if the Angel of Death were coming for him as well.

His brother was right after all, he did feel a bond with the younger Halliwell that could never be broken, nor understood. He vaguely wondered if the bond consisted of some sort of mutual empathic connection that neither of the two ever questioned. But it didn't really matter anymore. His world as he had known it, as he had built it, would end soon. Wyatt welcomed the idea of never having to feel this pain again.

He didn't even bother to wipe the stray tears from his face that dripped onto the bedding. "_Who the hell cares!"_ he yelled out loud as if doing so would somehow make the pressure building in his chest go away. It was getting closer.

Separated by time and space, Wyatt Halliwell still felt the tremendous pain that the bond caused. It was happening. His brother was dying and he couldn't do a thing to stop it. He was all alone in the past. Through the bond, he could feel Chris's terror and fear begin to overwhelm him.

He now finally understood why Chris's apparent betrayal had cut him sharper than if it had been done with a blade. _Of all the people, _he had thought. It was because of this very same bond that had him writhing in agony, clutching his chest as if he himself had been physically stabbed. He had felt the beginnings of the pain when their Aunt Paige had mistakenly orbed an athame into her unsuspecting nephew. But it hadn't felt that bad before, and he guessed it was because Chris hadn't really been close to deaths doorstep at the time. But now it was different.

Final.

And he realized that Chris had meant more to him than anyone in the world.

The pain lessened and he began to feel numb, but he still felt the accompanying fear at the impending events. But he also felt the sad loneliness that brushed the edges of his thoughts.

_That's not right! _His mind screamed. _YOU'RE NOT ALONE!_ In that moment, he suddenly knew what he had to do, frantically hoping that the bond worked both ways.

He reached out as far as his mind would take him, stretching out to the younger Halliwell.

Chris felt weak, the darkness finally beginning to settle deep within him as he felt the end approaching. As he lay dying, here in the past, the sense of deja-vu that he had been having turned into more. He had seen it all before in the seer's pool, and the knowledge that he had made this decision had somehow made it easier to accept. His family's knowledge of his identity now made sense to him.

He supposed that the cold realization of imminent death had triggered his recollection of the events surrounding his conception, and bypassed the block that the memory dust had erected against them. Wyatt had been there and made certain that he was to be born.

Through the pain, Chris found himself smiling at the thought. Despite how he had left things with the older witch in the future, he knew that the brother that he loved so much still cared for him, and because of that, he missed him. And though he was with his family now, they weren't the ones who he grew up with, who had raised him. These were people who had only recently begun to tolerate him since his return to the past. And now he couldn't help but feel terribly alone as the panic began to set in.

Suddenly, he felt and heard something he had never expected—his brother's voice echoing softly in his mind. He thought that perhaps in his delirium that he had been dreaming, but the voice pushed again, this time with a firm urgency. "Wyatt?" he questioned weakly.

Paige leaned in to answer his question, "He's not back yet, Honey. But I promise you that your dad will find him and save him. And then we'll save you." She cried softly when she saw that he hadn't heard her. She thought he was too far gone, when in fact, he was only listening to one voice.

'_I told you once when you were five that you're my brother, and that I would never leave you. That still stands, Chris.'_

'_If you remember that,' he thought disappointedly, 'then nothing's changed. This was all for nothing.' _

'_Not yet, no. But you'll make it better. For both of us. I know you will.' _

'_Are you still mad at me for betraying you?'_

'_No. Because I finally understand, Chris. Of all the people to betray me—you're the only one that hasn't. You're the only one who loves me enough to do this.' _

'_Then when I left, you knew about this? You knew I was going to die?'_

'_Yes,' he answered shamefully, expecting to hear a string of curses thrown his way. What he didn't expect was to hear the happiness in his brother's voice. _

'_Then you loved me enough to respect my wishes. To allow me to save you?'_

_The response took longer, and it was much softer, but it was still heard. 'Yes…'_

_Wyatt began to panic when his brother didn't respond. Then it was almost as if he could hear his father's voice telling Chris not to give up. How could the Elder not know? Chris would never give up anything willingly. He had fought Wyatt tooth and nail, every step of the way to ever believe that. But his body didn't have a choice any longer. He knew it was too late for him, choosing his last moments to sap the little bit of strength he had left to offer verbal words of encouragement to their father. "You either…"_

_He turned his head to the side, his mind fading along with his body before sending a final thought through space and time. 'Wyatt? Thank you.'_

Twenty-three years into the future, Wyatt cried harder than he ever had in his life. He felt the loss of the connection he never realized was even there before now, and instantly knew it was over. And he hadn't even gotten to say one last thing. The three most important words that family should never neglect to say—words that he had never actually uttered from his lips. It was always just understood, or at least he hoped it was. He laid down on the bed, rolling around and twisting in the old musty comforter, desperately hoping that the change he knew would follow, would come quickly and end his pain.

The bed shifted next to him, and he opened his eyes to a sight he soon hoped to forget. His brother's lifeless body was returned to him, and he reached out, pulling the younger man into his arms reverently.

So deep in his grief, Wyatt never saw the shimmering wave that flooded over him, signaling the change that the younger Halliwell had fought and died for.

€_-€-€-€-€-€-€-€-€-€-€-€-€-€-€_

"You know, mom's gonna' blow you up if she finds you curled up in her bed with your shoes on. Are you nuts?"

Wyatt sat up suddenly at the figure leaning on the door frame, "What?"

"What are you doing?" the brunette questioned inquisitively. He began to worry when his brother just stared at him dazedly. He quickly opened the empathic connection they shared and felt around the edges of his mind, offering a comforting presence. '_Are you alright, Wy? What happened? Should I get mom and dad?'_

'_Chris?'_

Chris touched his brother's forehead, mimicking their mother's reaction when one of them seemed 'out of it'. _He must be sick_, he thought to himself. He shook the older man, "Wyatt? Come on man, you're scaring me. What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know. I just—I think I just fell asleep and had a really weird dream."

"What was it about?"

Wyatt furrowed his brow in concentration for moment before coming up blank. "I can't even remember. All I _do remember _is that I am really glad to see you."

Chris raised an eyebrow at the giddy response his brother had just given. He answered sarcastically as he pulled the other man up. "Yeah, I'm really glad to see you too. Especially since I just saw you this morning in our apartment. Now get a move on, it's your turn to do inventory at the club. So if this is just another one of your little devious plots to get out of it, _forget it_—I'm not buying it."

Wyatt followed him down the stairs, "But--"

"Nope." He said crisply.

"But--"

"_No."_

Wyatt still for some unknown reason, had the urge to say one more thing. "I love you, bro. You know that, right? Oh, and happy birthday," well, two more things he thought happily.

The brunette stopped in his tracks at the strange declaration. Chris himself had rarely been one to express any type of verbal sentiment, but Wyatt was usually downright adverse to it, preferring instead to hook his arm around Chris' shoulders and ruffle his hair affectionately.

Maybe whatever Wyatt was affected with at the moment was catching, because Chris also felt an unusual urge to follow suite.

He turned around slowly, admitting in a quiet voice. "Of course I know that. I love you too. And thank you." Chris shook off the feeling as the moment passed and narrowed his eyes at the taller witch. "But buttering me up is still not going to change the fact that you're in charge of inventory this month. Now orb your Twice-Blessed butt over to the club or I'll sick mom on you." He crossed his arms and eyed his older brother with what he hoped was a stern look. The blonde grinned widely and Chris called out a warning before he orbed out, "…and no magic!"

"Must have been one hell of a dream," Chris laughed out loud to himself before he orbed to join his brother.

The End.

Thank you all so much for reading & reviewing. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)

With that said, I'd like to ask you all a small favor—you see, my writing professor mentioned that he'd like to see me try to get some of my generic fiction (not fanfiction) published, but I don't know if I have the confidence to do that. So if you wouldn't mind letting me know what you think of my—ex. writing, ideas, plotline, whether or not you'd read it from a bookstore or library, etc. Or have suggestions for improvement—other than faster updates because I know I'm seriously lacking in that department ;)

So anyway, maybe just a quick note in a review, email, pm or whatever if you get time?


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